


Forever Changing

by Shadowmagic0107



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Fluffy, Happy Ending, Lance doesn’t get it, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, Voltron, angsty, royals au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-15 21:16:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 25
Words: 26,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16071503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowmagic0107/pseuds/Shadowmagic0107
Summary: Lance has recently come out as bi to his dad, King Alfor. Zarkon has taken this opening and forced Alfor to announce the marriage if their sons.Alfor fears for Lance’s life so he asks his best soldier, a human named Keith, to watch over him.Keith has a shady past, Lance wants to have a choice in life, King Alfor want his son too make it through his teen years. What will happen when the stoic soldier is placed with the bubbly prince?OrThe one where Lance is betrothed to Lotor and Keith is in charge of him till then.





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ok. I tried to keep everyone in character. Any suggestions you want later in in the story can be put in the comments. 
> 
> I have a few chapters lrewritten though, so don’t kill me if I don’t accept your request Bl 
> 
> Anyhoo. I’m pretty okay with this idea. Have fun reading!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance comes out to his parents, the King is worried.

Keith had been taught to fight from the moment he could walk. Before his father died, he had taught Keith the basics, then his older brother, Shiro, joined the King’s Guard and took Kieth along with him to training. Keith had been part of of the royal guard since he was twelve, he had been better than most people twice his age.

Now he was seventeen. Keith was being promoted. Shiro decided to take him along with him to the meeting of the royal leaders, he would get his assignment there.

The hall was open, the walls were arches that met high above them in a dome-like shape. Keith had been here a few times in the past five years to get assignments from the King himself. Assignments that required a large amount of skill, but no more that one person. Keith had accepted these missions without a second thought and completed them without fail. He had been anticipating a new assignment for a while now.

They approached the king and bowed, making a circle over their hearts to symbolize unity, or something, Shiro had told him about it a long time ago. King Alfor nodded and gestured to the table, there were four seats left. There was something off. Keith sat beside his brother.

Under the table Keith knotted together strings. He had a few bad habits from before Shiro found him. The need to always be moving was just one of them. The strings had been a recent discovery, Keith had tagged along with Shiro on a mission a few weeks ago, Shiro had dropped Keith off at a carnival type place to patrol while he did his work. There was a lady who had been selling bracelets and long chains of beautifully threaded string and Keith had asked her about it. He sat with her for the whole day and learned many ways to stitch the woven wool.

The last generals arrived just as Keith was starting a new thread. It was Lotor and his father, Zarkon, the Galran representatives. It was common knowledge that they wanted the throne, but King Alfor chose to ignore it, since they hadn’t acted on it. Today, Zarkon sat right next to the King, where Alfor’s advisor normally sat, and Lotor sat and his other side, where his wife usually stayed.

Keith’s eyes narrowed in suspicion, Alfor had been strangely droopy when they arrived and he usually greeted Shiro with a huge smile, Keith had waved it off as exhaustion, but now that he looked, the King’s eyes were bright, not with his signature jolliness, but with flaming anger, not a look you saw very often in this particular monarch.

The King shuffled a little in his seat and began speaking, which surprised Keith because the King normally let his advisors speak for him, “The first thing I want to tell you is something my son told me about a week ago.” Keith liked the way King Alfor spoke, in stories, not commands or explanations, “He came to our room at night and sat on the edge of our bed and told me, ‘Father I fear I do not fancy women.’ He said it quietly, like he was afraid.” The King’s tone softened a little when he said this, “Of course my wife and I told him there was no problem with this, and chose a few male suitors for him.”

Keith watched the King’s face carefully, he had never met the prince and didn’t really care that he preferred men, but the King had to be mad about something. The council seemed to be taking the news well and the spark of anger had calmed a little.

Ryner cleared her throat, “You Majesty, who is the Prince’s betrothed now?”

There. There was that fire from before. The Alfor’s eyes were blazing as he said, “Ah, Zarkon’s son, Lotor, has been chosen by the Prince himself.” The King choked on the word ‘chosen’, Keith’s suspicion flared. He turned to Lotor and Zarkon, as always, Zarkon’s face was devoid of emotion, but Lotor has this self assured smirk that made Keith want to slap him.

The King spoke for a few more minutes regarding who would have more power in the relationship, none of the leaders really objected so the meeting was over soon.

As the other royals and generals left, Keith walked up to the King and bowed, the King placed his hand on Keith’s shoulder and lifted him to his feet.

”I have a feeling you know what I’m thinking.”

Keith nodded, “You don’t trust Lotor.”

The King smiled, “You were always very observant, Keith.” His fire had died down and was replaced by a dull sadness, “He has threatened our family for Lance’s hand. With Allura marrying into one of the Southern Kingdoms, Lotor will rule here. My Lance has no way of protecting himself from Lotor, I want you to act as his bodyguard and trainer. I want you protect him and teach him to fight and be mentally strong like you.”

”Why me? Shiro is more….”Everything. Keith was known to be a hot head and bad at communication. He was honestly confused.

The King shook his head gravely, “You can’t begin to understand how evil Lotor truly is, Shiro might hesitate in a tough situation, I can trust that you won’t.” Then King Alfor did something Keith would never expect him to do. He bowed to Keith, one one knee his head bent, humble as any peasant coming to him for help, “I beg you to protect my only son from himself as well as many others. Please.”

Keith dropped to one knee and put his hand on King Alfor’s shoulder, “Anything for you, Your Majesty.”


	2. Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Essentially, they meet and Keith figures out how much of a dork Lance is.

Keith was training. It was similar to his strings, he liked to train whenever he could, there is always room for improvement. Always. Shiro was watching him from a bench nearby.

”So, what’s the assignment?” Shiro watched as Keith pulled himself up on the bar hanging off the ceiling.

”Babysitting for the King.” Was all Keith said as he dropped to the floor and started doing curl ups. 

Shiro raised an eyebrow, “Really? He seemed upset.”

Keith didn’t look at him, as he growled, “That’s it.” Shiro raised both his hands and walked out of the room, leaving Keith to work off his steam.

The next day Keith arrived at the palace gardens early, he was meant to meet the prince here. He wandered around looking at flowers he saw blooming on the hedges. The was a noise behind him, a little rustle. Keith whirled around, his left hand reaching back for his knife while his right faced wrist inward, his gauntlet out to protect him from any potential attacks. 

The noise was made by a boy about his age, pretty tall, very lanky, all leg, with olive toned skin, snow while hair and blue Altean markings on his cheekbones which made him…

”Your Majesty.” Keith dropped his stance and bowed. 

The boy waved his hand, “No need. My name’s Lance.” He seemed kind of upset. He wasn’t wearing anything fancy either, just a shirt and a pair of looser pants.

Keith straightened back up, “My name is Keith, the King has appointed me as your bodyguard.” Lance winced.

”You’re supposed to teach me to fight as well.” He said, kind of uptight. Keith wanted to punch him.

”Can you fight, my lord?” He kept his voice even and professional, no point annoying the Prince.

He nodded, “Just a little.”

Keith nodded and backed up onto some open lawn, “I would like to gain an understanding of your skills.”

The Prince looked scared, this was probably the first time he was being asked to do anything remotely dangerous, “You’re my father’s strongest soldier.” He said, his tone wary.

”I would never hurt the Prince of Altea.” Keith said, trying to drain the sarcasm out of his voice.Lance came at him. He was fairly terrible, dodging was simple. Keith let him land a hit to get a feel for his strength. Not very impressive. The Prince was stiff, Keith easily got around him and pinned him to the ground.

Lance was panting. He examined his arms, finding a few bruises and frowning at them. Keith decided to speak up, “I don’t believe you are very experienced, Highness.”

Lance tossed Keith a cold glare which he completely ignored, “Why do you think that?”

”Forgive me, but your stance is wrong and your muscles are tight.” Keith bowed his head a little, wondering how the Prince responded to meekness.

”Would you care to teach me?” He asked, no particular emotion leaked into his words. Keith nodded and stepped up so he was right next to the boy.

”Copy how I stand.” Keith said, he figured he could copy Shiro’s teaching methods, which consisted of setting an example and stern words. He dropped into stance and carefully watched how Lance’s weight shifted as he molded himself into copy of Keith. “The weight goes on your front leg.” Lance nodded. He shifted again. His toe pressed into the dirt.

Keith shook his head and stepped to face Prince, “Leg. Not foot.” He pressed Lance’s toe, “All your weight is here.” Keith pulled his hand higher up, “You need your weight here.” Lance nodded and shifted again. Keith shook his head, “Right idea, wrong place. The ball of your foot,” he tapped it, “put you weight here to make sure this foot isn’t stuck to the ground.

Lance rolled his foot forward so that his foot wasn’t pressing into the grass. “Okay. What now?”

Keith moved in front of him, “Try a kick.” Lance picked up his foot and fell on his side. Keith fought to keep a straight face, “Do you want to try again?”

Lance scowled, “No, that’s enough.”

Before he began trudging up the hill to the palace, Keith bowed, “My apologies for any disrespect I may have shown, Your Highness.” The Prince nodded and left.

Keith was torn between bursting into a fit of laughter and groaning. He was going to be stuck with this incapable idiot until the wedding. 


	3. Part Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one’s a little short. But it’s right before they leave, Keith gets a special warning.

Keith packed only the essentials, clothes,a few coins, his CED, some snacks and his ceremonial dagger, just in case. Shiro was coming with him to the port to see him off (against his will).

“So…what do you think of the Prince?” He asked as they walked out of the Human Sector.

“If he returns here in an escape pod with a dagger through his chest, I’m going to need you to throw the guards off my trail.” Keith responded with a totally straight face. Shiro chuckled. Keith didn’t know if he meant it or not. He hadn’t gotten a good understanding of the Prince. They reached the port to meet him and his father by a ship.

Keith and Shiro bowed, making a circle over their hearts. “Rise.” The King said. Keith stood up and found that the King was smiling, a real smile. “Thank you, Keith for agreeing to escort my son across the galaxy.”

Keith didn’t know how to respond so he nodded respectfully. Shiro smiled and turned to the Prince, “Please ignore any disrespect Keith may show you, it is just his terrible perso-“ he cut himself off with a sharp gasp as Keith sharply poked him in the middle of his lower back. Prince Lance’s eyes shone with interest. 

Keith bowed once more to the King, gave Shiro a tight squeeze and a punch in the shoulder and moved to stand by the ramp that lead to the entrance of the ship. He stood there for a few minutes before a guard came up to him.

The badges on his shoulder told Keith he was a rank above him, Keith looked up at him as he saluted, the guard had the towering height and the purple skin of the Galra, but that couldn’t be right. The Galra we’re celebrating the rise of their race with Lotor and Zarkon on their home planet.

He nodded down to Keith, “I am part of the Prince’s personal guard.” Ah, that explained it. He looked around as if he were afraid of someone over hearing him, “Forgive me for speaking badly of the Prince, but he is impossible, the best thing you can do for yourself is stay quiet and only interact with him if he interacts with you. He may seem insufferable at first, but one you acquire his trust he loosens up a bit.” The Galra soldier bit his lip, “I admire you for taking the job. Good luck soldier.” He saluted and turned away.

Keith stared after him, wondering what he had gotten himself into.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CED stands for communication entertainment device. I like to pretend I’m smart once in a while ;b


	4. Part Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get a little heated.

As soon as Lance sat down at the control panel of the ship he said, “Okay, we’re running away.”

Keith rolled his eyes internally, “Apologies, my Prince, but I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.”

He seemed offensive, “What species are you? Are you okay with Lotor rising to power?”

“I am a human, Your Highness and I’m afraid my thoughts on the politics of the kingdom are irrelevant.”

Lance seemed surprised, “A human is my father’s strongest soldier, interesting.” There was a moment of silence, “Who was that other guy? I think his name was…Shiro?”

“My brother, Highness, he raised me after my parents died.” Keith didn’t really want to talk about it.

“‘My’? Why not ‘our’?” Lance wasn’t looking at him, so Keith let himself frown.

“He caught me stealing from the market square down the hill from the Alkari Sector. It had been a year since my- I was orphaned and I hadn’t eaten in weeks, so he took me to his place a fed me and I ended up staying.” Keith’s eyes passed over the positioning monitor, “Your Highness, you are aware that Daibazal is the other way.”

Keith heard a small grumble as the Prince reset the destination, “I’m afraid I may have misspelled the name, thank you for catching it.” Keith was ready to hit his head on the wall, was he seriously stuck with this _child_ for a week?

“Forgive me for speaking out of turn, Highness, but the only reason I can’t allow you to run away is, well, Lotor probably threatened your family for your hand in marriage, right?” Keith didn’t wait for an answer, he knew he was being abrupt, “If you run away now, he will carry out his threat. Don’t doubt it. He now has the social status to actually get people behind his idea, whatever that may be. You are no longer safe. Don’t think for a moment that you are, there is a reason I’m the one here and not my brother.”

Lance stared at him for a moment, Keith lowered his head, “Forgive me for speaking out like that, Highness. But I’m afraid you needed to hear the reality of the situation from another point of view.” 

Lance didn’t say anything. Keith moved away to stand by the entrance of the control room. An unreadable silence settled.


	5. Part Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is super bad at fighting. They get a little off course.

They had been on the ship for six days. They hadn’t talked unless it was absolutely necessary, can you get me this, I have to go do this, blah blah blah. Keith was honestly enjoying himself, it wasn’t that often that he got peace and quiet around Shiro’s place where someone was always coming or going. His threads had been lengthened quite a bit and Keith had also invented a few new stitches himself. He wasn’t sure if the Prince noticed him doing his own thing while standing in front of the door all day or if he cared. 

It was about midday when the Prince spoke to Keith. “You said you would teach me to fight.” That was it. Keith took him to the training room and set the droid to the easiest setting and gave him pointers as he fought. The Prince would nod along and try his best to sustain his dignity as he followed Keith’s instructions.

At one point, when Keith had his hand on Lance’s stomach, lightly pressing to show where he should feel pressure the Prince said his name.

“Yes, Your Highness?”

“You are aware that I fancy men, correct?” He seemed wary. Keith detected the discomfort beneath the question.

He answered nonchalantly, “Yes Highness, the King mentioned it at the meeting.” the Lance nodded and they went on with the lesson.

By the time they were done, the Lance was soaked in sweat and Keith was breathless from holding in laughter. He had managed not to crack a smile even once during the whole hour they had trained. Keith felt like he had pulled a muscle in his stomach. 

The Prince looked at Keith, “Do you think I can get better? Honestly.”

At this Keith hesitated, “My lord, you aren’t currently at your full potential.” Keith said carefully, “But your full potential might not be as strong as you wish.” Keith kept a wary eye on Lance’s form, which was rigid.

There was a sigh, “Honestly, I’m not surprised.”

“Do you wish to continue training, Highness?” The Prince seemed to consider it.

“No. You may serve solely as my bodyguard.” Keith nodded and excused himself. He went to his room and dug our his CED and sent a message to Shiro, who told him there were Galra stationed all over town, even the Royal guard had been turned into a Galra only force.

After delivering the dark news, Shiro sent another message saying he thought they should rename the guard and make it ‘The Purple and Proud Club.’ P.P. for short.Keith couldn’t help but smile. He had missed Shiro’s nonexistent sense of humor. He would’ve called if the prince wasn’t yelling for him from the storage room.

Keith sighed and made his way over. “Yes Your Highness?”

“We are almost out of food.” The Prince was standing on a crate to reach one that was on top of a pile.

“His Majesty told me he packed just enough food for us to get there. We should arriving tomorrow.” Keith said as he counted off what he could see. There was enough to last them a few days. Then he saw the Prince’s expression.

“We may or may not have gotten slightly off track.”

Keith tried not to react, “How long will it take us to reach Daibazal from our current location?”

“Maybe a week?” Lance tried for a smile.

Keith couldn’t control himself, he bought his hand to his face and looked at the Prince through his fingers, “Are you quiznacking kidding me!” He knew he was being disrespectful, but at this point, whatever. “The wedding is in two days! You have be at Daibazal tomorrow!” The poor Prince opened his mouth to speak, “No. Nope. You are putting the lives of your entire family, your entire country at risk! Zarkon can kill everyone at this point!”

The Prince spoke quickly, “I understand that. I have always understood that. But can you really blame me for wanting to escape?” He sighed, “I mean imagine yourself being forced to marry someone you know doesn’t actually care for your well being or happiness or even if you live through his plan for your kingdom. Can you?”

Keith shook his head, “I’m really sorry that you were shoved into this position but you need to call Lotor and tell him you’re going to be late.”

A look of terror settled on the Prince’s features, “What am I going to tell him!?”

Keith thought for a minute, “Tell him that I messed up with the navigation system and we got off track.”

Lance gave him a look, “He’ll have you punished when we get there.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it’s a little boring. But I swear it gets better!


	6. Part Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith. What’d you do…

      Lance was relieved when Lotor hung up. They had agreed to postpone the wedding by one week.  

“But of you aren’t here in a week, well, let’s just say your sister…may not make it.” Lotor had smiled as he said it. Lance had nodded mutely and turned off his screen. Lotor has also promised that Keith would be punished “creatively and severely.”

Keith. He was a mystery. He seemed so solemn with his sob backstory and his ever present disapproving frown, but Lance had seen a different side to him. The way his eyebrows furrowed when he was knitting together that colorful string or his smile when he hugged his brother goodbye. Keith was his only company on the ship and Lance was curious. How did a human, part of the least evolved species, become his father’s strongest soldier?

“Where’s the nearest market?” Lance jumped and turned around. Keith had walked into the room while Lance was buried in his thoughts.

“Let’s find out.” Lance bought up his positioning system and zoomed in on their location. Keith leaned to look over his shoulder. That was another thing Lance liked about him. Despite knowing full well that Lance was into boys he didn’t act awkward or keep his distance like the rest of the guard. He turned to Keith, “It seems thats we are right above an Oonaloo Market.”

“Good.” Keith squinted at the screen, “If I may ask Your Highness, what planet are we on?”

“Um, Taujeer.” Lance said, he saw Keith pale and heard a breathy ‘oh’. “Is everything alright?”

“Fine, Your Majesty.” Keith moved back. Out of the corner of his eye Lance saw the flash of color that indicated he was playing with his strings.

Lance pressed the communications button again to request permission to land.

 

•••

 

Keith had pulled his hood up and the automated mask covered his face, he looked like a true soldier. Except for his height. Lance, who was fairly tall and pretty lanky had never had a guard who was shorter than him. Keith was only shorter by a little but Lance was still skeptical of his skill.

They had gone through all the shops they needed and were making their way to the exit. It was incredibly hot, even in his light, Altean style clothing, Lance was sweating. He couldn’t imagine what Keith was feeling in his stuffy armor.

“Why don’t you take off your hood?”

Keith stiffened. Lance stopped, “I would rather not, Highness.”

Lance cocked his head, “Why not?”

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you that Highness.” Keith mumbled.

Lance got annoyed. If there was anything he hated, it was when someone kept information from him. “Take off your hood, that is an order from your Prince.”

“Your Maje-“

“No. Do it.” Lance didn’t raise his voice or make it sound scary. He was just being insistent. Keith sighed and slowly lowered his hood. His mask retracted as well leaving his face open. Well, mostly. Keith had very thick hair and bangs that covered his eyes most of the time. To Lance’s great annoyance he had not one drop of sweat on him. I wasn’t fair that he looked so clean while the Prince of Altea was dripping buckets. They continued walking down the road at a slower pace until an elderly shopper called them over.

Lance was wondering what he could possibly want and why Keith seemed so on guard. They stopped at the guys stand. He seemed to be selling an odd looking fruit.

Lance went straight for his winning smile as he asked, “What is it, sir?”

“I am curious.” He said. His voice surprisingly gruff. “Could you ask your guard to step closer?”

Keith had been stand a few feet behind Lance, as far away as he could get without seeming disrespectful. Lance gestured for him to come over. 

The shopkeeper leaned closer, “Could you show me your eyes, son?” Keith went rigid, yet again poking at Lance’s curiosity. Keith brushed his bangs out of the way to let the shopkeeper see his eyes.

When his did there was a gasp, “It’s the same! From all those years ago.”

Keith responded with a simple, “Quiznak.” And turned to Lance.

“What? Is this your long lost Grandpa or something?” It was the only explanation Lance could think of.

Keith shook his head, “Highness, we need to leave. Now.” He looked down the road but the soldiers were already running towards them.

“What’s happening?” Lance had no idea.

“I’m sorry but it’s a long story, I’ll tell you on the ship.” Keith wasn’t even looking at him.

The soldiers were shouting, “Its the Indigo Thief!” “What?” “From all those years ago!”

“It was only ten years.” Keith grumbled, “Gonna have to fight. Sorry, Highness but I’m going need you to hold these.” He handed the bag of food to Lance and stepped into the street. “Wait here.”

There were at least 40 soldiers advancing on them. Keith rolled his shoulders and lunged.

He was quick. He rammed into the first soldier and knocked him out. He slipped past the second line and jabbed at their necks. Soon he was moving too fast for Lance to keep up with his motions.

Then the net came. It landed on top of him, pinning Keith face down to the ground. Lance cried out. He saw the sparkling electricity as it shot through the net. Keith screamed through his teeth, Lance to a step forward and stopped when he saw the flash of a knife. Keith cut through the net quick as the electricity itself. He jumped to his feet and slashed at the soldiers that had crowded around him while he was down. He continued fighting, picking up speed the same as before. Now, Lance could see flashes of a smirk and the sunlight glinting off his dagger. Before he knew it, Keith had knocked out all the soldiers and was taking the bags from him.

“We need to get back to the ship. Quick.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stick with me people. I swear, you won’t regret it.


	7. Part Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is basically a girl on her period. Chocolate is amazing. Background stories are fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk.

As soon as they got back to the ship, Lance started badgering Keith with questions. He wanted to know everything. Keith patiently told him that he would have to wait until he was done unpacking.

Soon enough they were in the control room. Lance couldn’t even wait for a second. “Tell me.” Was all he said. He heard Keith sigh from behind him.

“I had been wandering from town to town after my parents died. I accidentally took thewrong transport and ended up with a monthly shipment to a Oonaloo trading post. There was no other shipments until the next month so I lived there. I stole from the shops during the day and lived in a little cave a few minutes away from the market.

“One day, I got into a fight with a shopkeeper so I had to stay away from the market for a few days. When I got back I was tired and weak and I kept on getting caught. They started calling me the Indigo Thief because all they could seem to remember was the color of my eyes. Then, I stole from the wrong man. I was going to be whipped in the heart of the market,” Lance heard his voice crack a little, “that was the last day of the month, so when I ran away the night before I was supposed to be ‘tied to the square’, they put a huge bounty in my head. I didn’t realize I was still wanted.” There was a silence, “That’s pretty much it.” He said.

Lance turned to see Keith fiddling with his strings, “What are those?” He asked leaning over the back of his seat. Keith looked up and saw Lance staring at his hands.

“I like to have something to do with my hands.” Was all Keith said in response. Lance didn’t say anything, he just watched Keith’s nimble fingers knot the strings together, he found his eyes traveling up to the soldier’s face, his hair was pretty long, jet black and curly at the bottom. He tried to remember what they called it in the Human Sector, a mullet. Lance smiled, it suited him.

“Hey Keith,” He said, “What do you like to eat?”

Keith looked up from his strings, “I don’t understand why you are concerning yourself with that, Your Majesty.”

“I like knowing a little bit about my guards.” Lance responded, then he realized that was a feeble excuse, considering the fact that Keith had basically told him his childhood.

“I like meat,” he said, “I’ve also always liked chocolate.” Lance was thoroughly amused with the general awkwardness when Keith spoke. His amusement turned into curiosity when Keith pulled a flat rectangle out of one of the pouches in his hip, “I actually stole some chocolate from one of the stalls when we were shopping.” Lance wondered if he had been looking for it.

“Can I try some?” Keith nodded, pulled off a little of the wrapper and offered it to Lance, who broke off a small price and stared at it. Keith took a bite directly out of the bar and closed his eyes a little. Lance sniffed at it, it smelled really good so he nibbled a tiny bit off his piece to get a feel for the taste. He couldn’t help but grin. The flavor was wonderful, it was very sweet and the tiniest bit bitter. Everything was balanced out wonderfully. Before he knew it, Lance was licking the melted chocolate off he fingers and watched as Keith finished the bar.

Keith smirked, “You might not want to mention this to Lotor, Galrans have a strong taste for chocolate.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s still a bit random. But I really can’t do anything about it.


	8. Part Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They finally reach Daibazal. Lotor gives Keith an interesting punishment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lotor is a little backstabbing, shiteating, dickhead who can go die. Nobody is convincing me otherwise.

      They reached Daibazal in exactly a week. Lance called in for permission to land while Keith went around cleaning up the ship. They landed right outside the castle and were greeted by Zarkon, Lotor standing at his side. 

“Welcome, Prince Lance.” Zarkon said, “We hope you find our home and hospitality to your satisfaction. Now I must go to a meeting, my son will take you around.” Zarkon turned, shot Lotor a glance and walked quickly away.

Lotor stepped forward and shot Lance a smile, then, he settled his gaze on Keith, “So you’re the useless soldier that delayed our wedding.” He sneered.

Keith bowed, “I apologize sincerely, Your Highness.”

Lotor’s sneer molded into something far more sinister, “You are human, correct?”

Keith looked back up at Lotor, “Yes, Your Highness.”

Lotor smiled, “I don’t like to look in your eyes, I think I’ll put you in the arena for a few days, should humble you quite a bit.” His smile widened, “If you survive, of course.”

Lance had watched their exchange silently, but now he spoke, “What exactly is the arena?”

Lotor turned to Lance, “We have our incompetent soldiers fight our prisoners for the entertainment of our citizens.” Lotor looked at Keith from the corner of his eye, “A week there should be adequate punishment for your guard, correct?” Lance couldn’t do much but nod. If he opened his mouth he would’ve smiled. Anything relating to fighting, Keith had it in the bag. Reassuring himself with that though he gave Keith a firm nod and followed Lotor to the palace while Keith was dragged to the arena, where ever that was.

Lance jogged a little to catch up with Lotor, “When’s the wedding?” He asked.

“Ten days from now,” Lotor’s voice was cool, “It’s the closest day when all the participants for the ceremony will be present. Your soldier cost us quite a lot of time.”

Lance nodded and they entered the castle, over the next week he was asked to help Lotor pick out themes and particulars for the wedding. It was tiresome, spending the entire day with Lotor as he joked and discussed with other Galrans.

 

•••

 

Three days before the wedding, Lotor himself entered his room, “Do you wish to watch an arena battle. I’ve heard some interesting things about that boy of yours.”

Lance followed Lotor through the maze of hallways until they emerged into a small room with few seats, two walls were made of concrete and the third, right in front of them was made of glass. It looked over an open gladiator’s arena.

Lance could hear the shouts of the people around them. He saw a man on one side of the arena pulling a sack. Lance’s stomach dropped as he realized that it probably held a body. The man disappeared and a barred door dropped closed behind him.

A voice came over hidden speaker around the stadium, “Our next challenger, the dreaded Nightshade!” The announcer went on to describe Keith’s strengths and his past battles.

Lance turned to Lotor, “Nightshade?”

Lotor smiled, “Each contender is given a name based on their first kill, your soldier was dubbed Nightshade, apparently his attack style is beautiful, but once it touches you, you’re as good as dead. Much like the Nightshade flower that grows around these parts.” Lotor leaned forward, “I’ve never seen him fight, I must admit, I’m curious.”

“His warm up battle will be with our favorite assassin, Shadow Keeper!” The announcer yelled. On two sides of the battlefield the barred doors lifted. On the right Keith stepped out. He was wearing the skin tight sleeveless prison uniform with loose pants and arm wraps around his knuckles, up to his mid forearm. Up and down his arms and on his face was Galran battle paint, black. It was a majestic sight to behold, he had a dark mask like shape over his eyes, and Galran marking on his cheeks and down his arms. The design was tactical, the dark paint around his eyes would absorb the glare of the arena lights and the Galran markings were a symbol of power, meant to intimidate enemies.

From the other side emerged a lithe figure. He was clearly Galra, he had the height and purple skin, his ears were feline and stuck out of the side of his head. A scarf wrapped just under his nose and his eyes were set deep and shadowed. He pulled out two knives and twirled them. Keith smirked and pulled out a single dagger, it was beautiful, black silver, inset with deep amethyst and onyx. He brushed back his hair and dropped into a position he had tried to teach Lance not so long ago.

“Fighters ready?! GO!” The man on the speaker shouted. Keith and his opponent didn’t move for a moment, then they both flew. There was an occasional glint of knives as the darted around each other. Soon Keith pounced away and brushed his hair away from his eyes, he hadn’t even broken a sweat. Lance glanced at Lotor, he looked surprised, leaning farther forward as the battle continued.

“This is the longest fight Nightshade hasever fought!” The man on the loud speaker said, “He seems to be toying with our resident assassin! You’re the first to see it folks our top fighter is being topped!” Lance looked back to the fight. Keith was light on his feet, he was bouncing in circles around his opponent, darting in once in a while to land a small slice. He looked like he was dancing, the smile on his face made his eyes sparkle.

Shadow Keeper lunged at Keith, in a flash Keith was on top of him, dagger at his throat. The sparkle in his eye was gone and replaced with something sad.

The man on the loud speaker sighed, “Not again! Folks, I think our buddy Nightshade needs a little encouragement!” He said. The crowd erupted. KILL HIM! KILL HIM! They chanted. The sadness in Keith’s eyes turned into pure sorrow, he muttered something to the man below him, closed his eyes and swiped his dagger across Shadow Keeper’s neck.

The crowd burst into cheers. Lance fought to keep his face straight. Keith brushed the dead man’s eyes closed and slid off him. He put his dagger on the other man’s chest and bowed over him. The Ceremonial thanks to a fallen hero. Lance felt his heart drop.

The man on the loud speaker came on again, “Time to welcome Nightshade’s showcase opponent!” The body was dragged away through the right. On the left a person covered in robes stepped out, “Our first Druid competitor. Today, he will win a name or lose his life!”

Lance’s heart froze over. There was no way for Keith to beat a Druid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m relatively sure I spelled Daibazal wrong. But honestly, whatever.


	9. Part Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revelations. Keith has to stop smiling when he fights.

     The Druid was wearing robes, but their pointed nose and clawed hands hung out. They were probably well versed in magic. Lance glanced at Keith who had put his knife away and was staring at his opponent with an almost curious expression, he had probably never seen a Druid in action before. 

“FIGHT!” The announcer startled Lance out of his trance, he had the urge to ask Lotor to give Keith a different opponent, but the knowledge that Lotor would probably say no held him back.

Lance glanced back at the battlefield, Keith was still analyzing his opponent and the Druid was staring at him. All of a sudden the Druid disappeared, it was a quick poof, he reappeared behind Keith and jabbed him in the neck, disappeared again and appeared back in front of him. Keith pitched forward, surprised. He balanced himself and watched the Druid closely. The Druid poofed again, this time Keith closed his eyes and seemed to listen to something. The Druid appeared next to him, Keith stepped back and lashed out, the Druid disappeared and reappeared farther away.

Keith smiled. Lance was curious, he turned to look at Lotor, who was staring at Keith suspiciously. Lance turned back to the fight as the Druid was disappearing and reappearing at a rapid speed, getting closer and closer to Keith who smiled and slashed at the air beside him, catching the Druid just as he reappeared. Lotor seemed to choke beside him. The Druid disappeared for a long time, he appeared behind Keith, who flipped over him and jabbed him in the neck, practically glowing.

Lotor stood and walked out of the room, Lance hurried to follow him. Lotor opened a door roughly, startling Galra man who was jabbering excitedly into a microphone. “Stop the fight.” Lotor ordered.

“But, Your Majesty-“ the the man blubbered.

“Stop. The. Fight.” Lotor said forcefully. The man nodded and turned back to his microphone. Lotor whirled and stomped past Lance. 

Keith bowed, “Your Majesties.” When they walked into the dungeon.

Lotor looked down at Keith, “What is your race, boy.”

Keith looked up, confused, “I’m human, Your Highness.”

Lotor sneered, “Don’t lie.” He grabbed the front of Keith’s uniform, “What is your race?”

“I’m human.” Keith said, his voice steady.

Lance stepped forward, “What is this about?” He locked eyes with Keith for minute, he looked just as confused as Lance did. 

Lotor turned on Lance, “Did you know?”

“What?” Lance wasn’t following the conversation, What exactly was Lotor asking him?

The Druid walked in and bowed to Lotor. He straightened out and glanced at Lotor’s hand gripping Keith’s uniform.

Lotor coughed and let go, “Do the ritual, immediately.” He demanded.

The Druid nodded and reached out to Keith, who didn’t move. His hand glowed as he chanted. Keith gritted his teeth. The Druid continued chanting. Keith’s muscles were all tensed up. The Druid chanted louder. Lance itched to pluck the hand off Keith’s shoulder. The Druid stopped chanting abruptly, Keith sighed with relief.

Lance saw Lotor raise an eyebrow at the Druid who answered in a ragged voice, “About half, Highness. May I excuse myself?” Lotor nodded. The Druid left.

Lotor turned to Keith, “Do you know both of your parents, boy?” His voice was sharp.

Keith shifted, looking uncomfortable, “I didn’t know my mother, Highness. I only knew father a little before he died.” Keith’s eyes lifted and bored into Lotor’s, “May I ask what this is about?”

Lotor seemed smug as he looked down on Keith, “You’re a halfbreed, your mother was Galra.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha. Cliffhanger because I’m evil. Jk, I posted all of the chapters on the same day.


	10. Part Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THE WEDDING.

    Lance saw the exact moment Keith registered what Lotor said. His eyes broke a little, “What-what are you talking about?” Keith managed to say, “How do you know?” 

Lotor seemed to be amused by his denial, “Well, My Druid just preformed a ritual on you, he would know how Galra you are.”

For the first time since Lance had met him, Keith looked scared, “How do you know he wasn’t lying, or-or messed up or something!”

Lotor’s smirk widened, “You could hear a little ticking sound whenever he disappeared, right?” Keith’s eyes widened, “Only a Galra with a powerful amount of quintessence would be able to hear that.” Lotor seemed to think for a minute, “Your fighting style is too fluid to be Galra, but the way you could automatically know where the Druid was means you have enough quintessence to be of royal heritage.” Keith was still staring at him in shock. Lotor smiled and turned around, “We’ll talk more after the wedding.” He said as he sauntered out of the room.

Lance followed him, glancing back at Keith on the way out. He had dropped into a crouched position, his face hidden in his arms. Lance jogged a little to catch up with Lotor. He caught a glimpse of the sky as they passed a window, it was dark. He was getting married in two days.

Lance hurried to keep pace with Lotor, he scrutinized his face unable to figure out what Lotor was feeling. He wanted to ask about Keith, but Lance knew he couldn’t seem too interested or Keith would be hurt. So he kept to himself, silently wondering how he was feeling.

The next day passed in a flash, he was put through many herbal baths and treatments to make sure his skin and hair were perfect. He was given wine to drink, so that his skin was rosy and many oils were rubbed into it to make it smooth and clear, not that it wasn’t already. Ointments were applied under his eyes to get rid of the slightest possibilities of bags and his whole body was thoroughly cleaned.

The morning of his wedding Lance felt glamorous even in his nightwear. The fitted robes they dressed him in just added to his natural beauty, the Galrans refused to use makeup.

Lance couldn’t help but smile at himself in the mirror before the horrible weight in his stomach grew heavier, he was about to marry his father’s enemy. This wasn’t right. He sat on the bed and sighed, what could he do about it, everything here was out of his control.

His soul didn’t seem to be attached to his body as he was escorted to the end of an incredibly long deep blue carpet. He watched himself slowly make his way toward his fiancé, smiling a little. Lance finally reached the steps and made his way up to stand across from Lotor as the man, a step above them, read out a prayer in the Galran and Altean languages. Lance ignored him and watched himself stare anywhere but Lotor’s eyes.

Lance was pulled violently back into his body as something above him shattered, a gloved hand snaked it’s way across his throat and cool metal pressed into his nerve.

The voice that spoke was gruff and low pitched, “The Prince belongs to us now, don’t bother looking for him, he may not survive if you do.” Lance struggled against the man holding him. He caught a flash of bright teal eyes as he squirmed, an Altean? Why was an Altean kidnapping him? 

Lance let out an involuntary growl as he tried to kick his opponent who was still explaining the situation while staring Lotor down. Just as he was about to hit him where it hurt, Lance was lurched upwards as the man jumped away. Lance blacked out.

 

•••

 

He came to as his captor launched them off Daibazal. Everything was happening too quickly, they were well out of the atmosphere when Lance’s mind caught up to what was going on. He swiveled in his seat to see his captor shedding his heavy gear, it seemed to be an assassination suit over an earthen garment Lance remembered as a hoodie or a sweatshirt, he couldn’t remember which. The man revealed a skin tight shirt that the prisoners in the arena wore and a band around his neck. He snapped off the band that was apparently attached to his mask and slid both of them off his face, revealing dark, messy hair and pale skin. No way. He reached up and held his eye open with one hand as he plucked out a lens with his other, repeating the action for his other eye, rubbing them viciously when both lenses were discarded.

He turned to Lance with those purple-blue eyes, no hint of battle paint, Lance couldn’t stop himself before he started asking questions, “What?! How did you get out of the arena? How did you get all that stuff? Where did you come from? What are- why did you save me?! Ho-“ he was cut off by Keith’s expression.

Keith spoke after a moment of silence, “I disguised myself as the pianist.” He said awkwardly. Lance’s jaw dropped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahahaha. Don’t think I’m not bringing this back up ten chapters later.


	11. Part Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quick. Keith reveals his talents.

       After that Keith explained quickly, before Lance could recover from his shock. He told Lance how he snuck through the palace, telling guard he was lost. He had found the real pianist and knocked him out and stolen his clothes and music, the rest was simple, play until there was an opening, pull over his disguise and kidnap the Prince. 

Lance stared at him for a minute after he finished explaining, Keith shifted awkwardly. Lance shook his head and blinked a few times, “You play the piano?!” He asked, latching on to the first thing he could wrap his mind around.

Keith shrugged, “I originally trained to be an assassin. The more talents you have, the better assassin you are.” He said it flat, no emotion, “I can play a lot of instruments, I speak seven languages, understand twelve and a few other random things that I learned in my free time.”

“Wow.” Lance compared that to what he did in his free time, pranking his servants or talking with his sister- he shot up in his seat, “My family! Keith, he’s going to go after my family!”

Keith smiled a little as Lance turned to him in a panic, “I wouldn’t worry, Highness, Shiro contacted me last night and told me they were hiding away on a refuge planet a few star systems from here.”

Lance stared at him again, the relief flooding his systems, his family was safe! He didn’t have to marry Lotor! He looked up at Keith, “Thank you.” He said, and he meant it. 

Keith ducked his head to pick up his stuff and moved toward the door of the control room, the ship wasn’t as big as the Altean one, but it was still pretty large. He figured Keith was probably blushing, Lance squintedas the doors closed, there was something off about it. Lance stared as the brighter light of the hallway illuminated Keith. His blush was purple!

Lance chuckled to himself, Keith blushes purple! It was probably because of the Galra blood in his veins. He was overcome with an emotion he couldn’t quite explain, a mix of anger, sadness and a little anxiety. Keith was Galra, and enemy race, despite the shock of knowing that, he gathered himself and rescued Lance. He was mad at Lotor for destroying that little part of Keith.

Just as he turned back into his seat, Keith walked in. He stood at the door, Lance heard the telltale rustle that meant he was pulling out his strings. Lance tried to ignore the urge, but he found himself turning to watch him. Keith’s fingers were deft as they pulled the threads together.

“Why do you do that?” Lance asked, not looking away from Keith’s hands. 

“I have a habit from back when I was in the streets, Your Majesty, I cant keep my hand still. It’s better to give them something to do.” Lance nodded, he was kind of disappointed.He could never get Keith to show any emotion when he spoke about himself.

Lance leaned forward in his seat, “How long is it going to take us to reach my family?” He asked.

Keith’s fingers didn’t stall, they moved fluidly as he spoke, “I’m afraid it will take a few weeks Your Highness, including the stop we have to make for rations and supplies, preferably somewhere I’ve never been before.” Even as he made the comment, there was no emotion, just a monotone voice stating the facts.

Lance sighed, “In that case, you can just call me by my name, so that you don’t exhaust yourself saying my title every time.” He said blandly.

That’s when Keith’s fingers stumbled, “Of course.” He said, there was a little pause, “If you don’t mind… Lance.” Lance smiled, it sounded nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HIGH FIVES TO ANYONE WHO KNOWS WHERE I GOT THE ASSASSIN PART.


	12. Part Twelve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Self discovery is a big part of becoming a Galra. Keith isn’t very fond of self discovery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of angsty. Shiro has part in this.

      Keith stretched out on his tiny bed. The past few days had been very…eventful, he had fought in the arena, found out his heritage, saved the Prince, hijacked a ship and flown them out of Daibazal’s atmosphere. His finger pulled at the strings in his hand, it had been days since he had enough time to make one. 

Keith tied off the end to his chain and slipped it onto a keychain ring, that held all of his creations. He pulled out his CED and pulled up the information app and clicked on the search bar, he typed in one word, Galra.

 

•••

 

Three hours later, Keith was asleep, his CED still open to a self discovery page. He fell deeper into his bed shifting a little.

He was in a pitch black room, he couldn’t see anything, but he knew the walls were closing in on him. Keith felt around for and exit, his hand closed around a doorknob, he yanked it open, revealing a blinding light. It receded to show him the kitchen of his and Shiro’s tiny house. Shiro was standing at the the counter, chopping something. 

“Shiro!” Keith called out to him, laying a hand on his shoulder.

Shiro turned around, revealing his cold expression, Keith stumbled away and he snarled, “Stay away from me, Galra.”

Keith moved towards him again, “Wait, Shiro!” He stooped when he saw the glint of fear in his brother’s eyes, “You can’t actually be afraid of me,” he said reaching his hands out, “You’re my brother, you practically raised me.”

Shiro backed away from Keith’s outstretched hands, “My brother wasn’t a monster.” He snapped.

Keith was pulled away from him, bought back to the real world by a cacophony of noises. He couldn’t open his eyes, the noise was too overwhelming, he could hear the obnoxious whirring of the engine, the dripping of a tap somewhere, the rushing of air as the ship traveled at high speed, the click of Lance’s absentminded tapping, the thump of his heart, there were so many sounds crowding in his head, he didn’t know if he cried out or not. When he opened his eyes everything was bright, he scrunched his eyes shut and pressed his palms over his ears and felt fur, all the little details crowdinghis brain.

He flinched as another sound shot through his brain. Lance was calling out to him. He curled into a fetal position, hiding his head between his knees. He couldn’t handle the sensory overload. He felt a hand stroking his back. Someone was asking what was wrong.

Keith tried to speak, he could hear it pounding in his head, “Too- it’s too much.” He mumbled, “Loud.” He prayed Lance understood what he meant.

Apparently he did, because He felt something slipping over his ears. It muffled the noise enough for Keith to not be super overwhelmed, he tried to open his eyes, but it was still too bright, he tried to squint, but it was his eyeballs were being boiled. He tried to croak out another word, “Bright.” His voice broke at the end of the word. Lance turned off the lights. He opened his eyes and focused on taking deep breaths.

As Keith calmed himself down, the room seemed to darken and he could no longer hear the engine of the ship roaring. An image flashed through his mind, something he read earlier, “being a Galra comes with awareness, the moment you realize you might be Galra your instincts will kick in when you are afraid or feel any negative emotion. You might have phases where your senses are heightened or your ears might transform.”

Quiznack.


	13. Part Thirteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The transformation begins. Keith is so fucking done. Lance thinks of Keith as his friend. Awkwardness. Relatability(I don’t think that’s a word) Fluff. I’m sorry.

>       Lance had stroked Keith’s back reassuringly until he stopped whimpering and fell into a restless sleep. He left his headphones over Keith’s Galra ears, and made his way to his own room. Lance could still see Keith behind his eyelids, the large catlike purple ears emerging from the sides of his head and the scream that had cut through his train of thought. Galra, he was a monster. 

Lance opened his eyes, he couldn’t find it in himself to see Keith as a monster. Half Galra, not all bad, he thought. Keith was a good person. Lance remembered the sorrow in his eyes as he killed Shadow Hunter, Lance remembered Keith’s strings, he remembered how Keith playfully argued with Shiro. Keith was not a monster. No.

Lance’s dreams consisted of Keith that night.

 

 

•••

 

 

The next morning, Lance was slightly wary of Keith as they found the nearest market, to get supplies for their journey.

Keith had helped Lance stock the storeroom an left immediately after. Lance fooled around with the controls, not finding anything to do and getting bored. He wanted to listen to a story, the kind Allura used to tell him. Lance wandered the hallways looking for something to distract him.

He passed the training room, backpedaling to the door when he heard noises inside. He peeked through the door to see Keith running at the droid. He went for a stab, but the droid blocked him. Keith swung his outside foot, rolling over the droid’s outstretched arm and ending up behind it, pushing his sword through the metal and calling for the next level.

Keith tried a similar technique on the new robot, but it swung around, using the momentum to throw Keith at the far wall. He hit the wall with a dull thud and took a breath before he looked up to find the droid hovering over him. Keith bared his teeth and rolled under the droid, waiting for it to turn, then swinging at its neck as it made the movement. 

Lance could see Keith’s eyes, they were slitted and feline. Keith groaned and rubbed at them, “Stop it.” He murmured to himself, “Stop it. I don’t want it.”He turned and leaned on the wall, this time Lance couldn’t hear him, but he said something along the lines of, “You’re fine. We’re good. Stay focused, the mission is all that matters.” He stood there for a moment, head pressed against the wall, breathing hard.

Lance chose that moment to walk in, before he was caught, “What’s up, Keith?”

Keith visibly jolted when he heard Lance’s voice, he turned shakily, “Fine, Your Majesty, just training a little.” He was talking weird, trying not to open his mouth.

Lance’s eyebrows drew together, “Are you okay?” Keith nodded, Lance knew for a fact that Keith didn’t have anything in his mouth, he was training. Lance took a step closer, he saw Keith tense up, “What’s wrong with your mouth?”

Keith looked panicked, “I don’t know what you mean.” He muttered, his words slurred together because his mouth wasn’t moving.

Lance was getting worried, “Keith. What’s wrong?” He reached out for him, but didn’t move, “You’re being super weird.”

Keith bowed his head low, hiding his face, “I’m sorry Your Highness, but I really should go change back into my uniform.” That’s when Lance realized he wasn’t wearing his uniform, it was replaced with a pair of loose shorts and a black top.

Lance grabbed for his arm, “Come on, Keith! I told you to call me Lance!” He was getting frustrated, he wasn’t used to people not telling him things, “Tell me what’s wrong! I want to help!”

Keith didn’t turn around when he wrenched his arm from Lance’s grip, “Well, I’m sorry, Lance, but I don’t think you can help me right now.” He power walked down the hallway, trying his best not to full out sprint away from the Prince.

Lance followed him, nagging, “Come on. Come on. Come on! I want to help you! Tell me! It can’t be that bad! What’s wrong. Keith!” He kept going and going until Keith stopped walking.

He clenched his fists at his sides, “You know what?” He turned around suddenly and bared his teeth-fangs- at Lance, “That’s what’s wrong, okay?”

It took Lance a moment, “Are humans not supposed to have fangs?” He asked.

Keith almost literally went red, “No! They aren’t!” Then he growled and reached for the bottom of his T-shirt, he yanked it off in one fluid motion. Lance stared at him, he had a toned chest, complete with a prominent six pack. It took Lance a minute to realize that there were purple splotches all over his body, “I’m turning into one of them. It’s been getting worse since yesterday. How exactly do you plan on helping me?”

Keith wasn’t yelling, his voice was stone cold. Lance didn’t get a chance to respond before Keith turned on his heel and walked away.

 

 

•••

 

 

The next morning, Keith walked in fully transformed. He had large purple ears protruding from the sides of his head and a dark layer of purple fur covering every part of his skin that Lance could see. His eyes were a little yellow, but he still had pupils.

Lance cocked his head when Keith entered. Keith ignored him, probably hoping not to talk about it. Lance tried to notice something, anything, about the control room to start a conversation. Nothing stuck out ay him, except for the fact that Keith seemed restless.

“What happened to your strings?” Lance asked.

Keith jumped, “I ran out, Your Majesty. “ he mumbled.

“Lance.”

Keith nodded, “Right, my apologies.”

Lance groaned and leaned back in his seat, “Stop being so uptight! You’re practically my friend at this point.”

Keith seemed confused by that, “My orders are to keep you safe from the Galra. When did I become your friend?”

Lance paused, Keith didn’t see him as a friend? He let out a quiet, “Oh, sorry.” 

They sat in an uncomfortable silence untilLance moved to the dining area for lunch. The rest of the day was quiet, Lance would turn around to see Keith’s eyes scrunched up or his nose wrinkled in concentration. He looked adorable, but Lance didn’t say anything.

At one point, right before dinner, Keith let out a little gasp. Lance whirled around to see Keith staring incredulously at his hands. They were his normal skin tone, he looked up at lance with his pretty blue-purple eyes, no longer obscured by the yellow.

Keith’s lips slowly widened into a smile, “It worked!” Keith looked harder at his hands, his grin grew as he looked up at the Prince, “I’m human again!”

Lance laughed, “Wow! You look the same as when I met you!”

Keith wrapped his arms around himself and sighed, “Yeah, I do.” Keith looked at his hands again, and his energy returned, he leaped over to the Prince and grabbed his shoulders, “Ohmigodiwassoscared”

He said all the words in one breath, it took Lance a minute to figure it out, “Why?” He asked, genuinely curious.

Keith seemed to realized what he had done and carefully backed away, pulling in his ‘soldier face’ as Lance thought of it, “Um, well, I was worried Shiro would hate me.” Lance decided not to ruin it by using his words, instead he just cocked his head questioningly, “Shiro has a prosthetic arm, it was taken away tears ago when he was captured for human experimentation, y’know with all the immunities and stuff.”

Keith seemed awkward as he spoke but he looked straight at Lance the whole time, “I was worried because he’s always been there for me, if he hated me now I don’t know what I’d do with myself.”

“Hey, Keith, can I tell you a secret?” Keith moved his eyes to meet Lance’s, “Allura was my only friend.”

Keith looked shocked for a moment, he recovered quickly, “I’m sure that’s not

true Your Highness.”

Lance leaned back, “I’m friendly with most people, but that doesn’t make them my friend. Most of the time it’s just politeness.”

Keith nodded, “But you have a lot of friends now, of course.”

Lance sent him a questioning look, “What do you mean?”

Keith shifted, “Well, you said ‘was’ so I assumed something changed.” He shrugged, “Forget I asked.”

Lance smiled, “No no. It’s fine. You’re right. Something did change.” Their eyes met, “I think of you as a friend, even if it’s one sided.”

Keith’s eyes widened, he held Lance’s gaze for a second before turning away, “Um, cool?” Lance laughed, Keith stared on in confusion, “What? I wasn’t sure how to respond to that!” Lance started laughing harder.

It took a moment for him to calm down, “Seriously, I think of you as a friend. You have saved my life so many times in the last two weeks.” Keith opened his mouth to speak, “No. I know it was because of your orders and everything but I’m still thankful.”

Keith shook his head a little, “I was following orders, but I like you, you aren’t a bad person.” His face darkened, “I didn’t know what it was.”

Lance held back a laugh, then he realized, this guy had never had feelings of friendship to anyone before. That had to mean something, either he was surrounded by horrible people or just didn’t like the people around him. Lance emerged from his thoughts when Keith mumbled something about going to bed.

Lance smiled at him as he left. He stared fondly at the door after Keith left. Lance realized he would do anything for this boy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Prominent six-pack.” What am I doing with my life.


	14. Part Fourteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MORE STRING. KEITH GETS A NUMBER.

      Friends. Keith had never had any. Lance had just come out of nowhere and said he was his friend. 

Keith shook his head, he was acting like a three year old. Friends are just like normal people, but less likely to kill you. He was still happy, Lance thought of him as a friend! He shook his head and grabbed his phone to text Shiro.

Keith sent him a paragraph about what was happening and asking how things were going with him. He got a response a few minutes later, essentially saying that he was super busy guarding the King and Queen all the time. He was with them on an abandoned planet, hiding out.

Keith smiled at his text, typing a quick response and shoving his CED in his bag.

He headed to the training deck, now that his strings were all out, he need something to do with his time. Keith left his sword with his uniform, he wore a pair of shorts and a loose black T-shirt.

He set the training-bot on Level 5 and began breezing through the hand to hand combat levels. He had lost track of the progress he had made when Lance burst into the room, distracting him. The bot landed a good hit in his gut, sending Keith flying.

Lance called out for the drone to stop before running up to Keith, apologizing, “I’m sorry! I was just excited.” Keith gave him a questioning look, his Galra ears had popped out when the robot hit him, this was a common occurrence, they popped out whenever he was shocked or surprised. At least he didn’t get the overwhelming senses. His ears were pressed against the sides of his head as he tried to push down the pain.

Keith pulled himself up, wincing as he stretched his stomach, where the droid hit him, “No problem, Your Majesty. What are you excited about?”

Lance brightened up, “Yeah! I found an art district, we are passing over right now!” Keith was confused, what did an art district have to do with anything? Lance continued talking when he saw Keith’s expression, “We can get you string!”

Keith almost jolted in surprise, Lance had actually remembered him mentioning that he had ran out of string. He knew the Prince was trying to be nice but, “I don’t have enough money with me, Highness.”

Lance smiled, “Come on Keith! You’re traveling with a Prince!”

“I could never-“ Keith started out, Lance interrupted him.

“No. I’m getting you string, that’s final. I just wanted you to come with me to pick out the colors or whatever.” Keith looked at Lance, why was he doing this? He seemed totally serious about the offer, “Go get changed! We’re landing in ten minutes!”

 

 

•••

 

The market was super crowded, Keith hated it. Why did people feel the need to brush up against each other all the time. He was increasingly uncomfortable.

Lance had taken him to a clothing store as soon as they entered the marketplace and got him a pair of slightly baggy blue jeans and a black t-shirt that had a skull with a snake threaded through the eyeholes. The clothes were comfortable, but if he had to fight they wouldn’t help him much. Keoth didn’t get why he couldn’t wear his uniform, but he didn’t want to argue with the Prince, who seemed in an especially determined mood today.

He kept an eye on Lance’s shock of white hair, that stuck out even in an alien planet, to make sure he didn’t lose him. Lance turned around once or twice to check that he was still behind him. Keith shoved past a blue skinned man and a orange skinned-he couldn’t tell the gender, to catch up to Lance.

“Do you know where we’re going?” He asked over the loud chatter of the aliens around them.

Lance smiled at him and pointed, there was a shop a little ahead of them, it seemed normal enough, but Keith caught a glimpse of the inside when a customer left. The different types of strings were hanging from little hooks on the walls, behind huge counters with stacks of rolls of string. The whole place was super colorful, and the string in the walls looked like a cool striped pattern.

“Come on!” Lance grabbed his wrist and pulled him toward the store.

The inside looked even brighter now that they were actually there, Keith had to take a moment, he could hear Lance’s smile beside him. One of the ladies behind the desk walked up to them, she seemed about their age. She had pale blue skin, darker blue markings up her arms and the sides of her round face. Her dark hair seemed thick and hung over her shoulders.

“Hello! I’m Krailin. What can I get you today?” Her voice was a little low.

Keith glanced at Lance, who was looking at him expectantly, “Um, I’m not super sure, actually.” Krailin raised an eyebrow, “My brother got the string for me last time.” He explained.

She nodded, “Do you know what you are going to do?”

Keith reached into the pocket of his pants and pulled out a bunch of his designs, they were all connected to a metal circle, large enough to fit around his wrist, “Stuff like this.” He said.

Krailin reached out to take the circle from him and look closer at the designs, “These are beautiful! I think I have the perfect thread for for you!” She turned and walked away.

Just as Keith was about to follow her, Lance grabbed his sleeve, “I’m gonna go explore, I’ll be back.”

Keith nodded, “Don’t get captured, or killed. Please.” Lance covered his laugh with his hand as he gave Keith a thumbs up and left. Keith walked up to the counter where the lady was. She showed him a few varieties of string, she seemed to be flirting with him, but Keith wasn’t interested, so he ignored it. Just as he picked out the colors he wanted, he heard a familiar screech outside.

Keith lifted his weight off the table and listened, there was shouting outside. He sighed and moved toward the door of the shop, feeling Krailin following him. He stepped outside just as Lance was trying to get into the shop, they both fell down.

Lance stood up and helped him up, “Keith! Thank god!” He yelled, then ducked and pulled Keith down as a energy bullet zoomed over their heads.

Keith couldn’t help himself, he turned to Lance, “One request! Just one!”

Lance shrugged a little. Keith looked over his shoulder, a lot of people had run away, others were giving the men with guns a wide berth. He turned to Lance, “Stay here. Please.” Lance nodded.

Keith ran toward the men, his knife in his hand. He slipped under the first man and slashed at him, catching his shoulder. He bent backwards as another man tried to hit him with the butt of their gun, his stomach burning where the drone had hit him earlier. Keith straightened up and hit the first man with the hilt of his knife, knocking him out. That’s when he got into the groove, he didn’t think much of his actions, but soon enough all of the men were on the ground.

Sometime during the fight it started raining heavily. There was a cry from back at the shop, Keith whirled around to see a Galra man looming over Lance. Without thinking, Keith threw his knife, it hit the man in the neck. Keith expected Lance to hit the man hard enough to knock him out, then he remembered, Lance didn’t know how to fight. Gotta fix that.

Keith ran at the man, who had pulled the knife out of his neck. He was a few feet taller than Keith. He looked slightly surprised, but he bought his fist down at Keith as soon as he registered his presence. Keith dodged and grabbed on the arm a swung up to the Galra’s neck, hanging on like he was hugging him to death. The Galra struggled, eventually he swung his head forward in an effort to shake Keith off. Keith used to momentum to swing himself over the Galra’s head, he planted his feet and pulled the Galra over him. The man hit the ground hard, there was a snap, probably one of his bones.

Keith turned to Lance, “Oh my god!”

Lance tried for a smile, “At least I didn’t get captured?”

Keith shook his head. His hair was soaked, he went to look for his knife. He wiped it off on one of the Galra soldier’s clothes and checked them for any clue why they were chasing after Lance. Nothing. He walked back to the store to apologize for the damage.

Krailin was waiting for him with Lance, she blushed a little as she gave him a bag with a bunch of thread, “That was super cool. Um, we agreed to give you the thread for free, as a thanks.” She wrote something on a card, “That-That’s our card, if you need more just call, we deliver. Um, I wrote my personal number on there too, if you wanna call, I’m free whenever.”

Keith took the card and faked a smile, “Well, see ya around, I guess.” They left the marketplace and reached the ship without any trouble, most of the people left, so there wasn’t anything super uncomfortable, except for Keith’s soaked clothes and the cold wind that blew around them.

As they climbed into the ship, Lance nudged him, “Way to go, you got a number!”

Keith looked at him in confusion, then he remembered the card, he pulled it out, “I’m not interested.”

Lance raised an eyebrow, “Why not?”

Keith shrugged, “I’m gay.”

Lance cocked his head, “You are most definitely not gay.”

“I think I can decide that for myself.” Keith said flatly.

Lance shrugged, “If you wanna pretend that you’re happy, that’s fine. But why aren’t you interested in the girl?”

Keith went over the conversation in his head, not sure if they were thinking the same thing , “Oh! No. I meant gay as in I like guys. I’m not a lady type.”

“That’s not what gay means. Gay means joyful.” Lance said.

Keith shrugged, “Its human slang. I’ll teach you when we’re training.”

“Training?” Lance seems shocked.

“Apologies, Your Highness,” but Keith said as he made his way to his room, “but I can’t handle how useless you are during a fight, you might as well learn what you can.”

Lance nodded, “I’ll wait in the training room then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okeee. This essentially where I stopped writing. I’ll update whenever I can. There most likely won’t be more than a week between updates. If there is feel free to comment for more. 
> 
> Also I like kudos. Gimme more, please.


	15. Part 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s basically a filler chapter. They meet new people at the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRYSORRYSORRY! I had writers block and assignments. And nothing was coming out of my word place and I am so sorry. I’ll try to get the next part out sooner.

      Keith changed out of his wet clothes, back into his shorts and t-shirt that had just come out of the Altean equivalent of a dryer. They were warm and didn’t make him feel like murdering everyone around him. 

His thoughts drifted back to Lance as he walked through the halls of the ship. Incapable was the easiest way to describe him. How is it that a Prince, son of King Alfor who was supposedly the greatest warrior and tactician of his time, be so incompetent? Keith, at age ten, could’ve beat this boy into the ground, but Lance made up for it with kindness and sincerity.

Every time Keith saved him, Lance did little things to thank him for it. Last time, when Keith took down the soldiers at the market on Taujeer, he had refrained himself from asking heavy questions that were clearly bothering him, instead asking what Keith liked to eat. Now, when he had saved Lance from Lotor’s palace, he took Keith to an art district for string.

He went into the training room to see Lance waiting for him, wearing a looser outfit, that kind of hung off his lanky frame. Keith walked up to him.Lance seemed to be thinking about something. Keith cleared his throat.

Lance looked up at him, “Are you sure about this? You already said that I won’t be much good.” He seemed worried.

Keith looked at him wondering why, he was the Prince, why was he worried? He could always stop, he always had control over the situation, “I wouldn’t worry about it. We’ll stick to the things you’re good at.”

“How will you know what that is?” Lance seemed genuinely curious.

An evil smile grew on Keith face, “We try it all.”

Lance paled, “Keith, please tell me you’re not thinking what I think you are.” The smirk grew.

 

 

•••

 

 

They worked well into the night, Keith did everything along with Lance setting an example. They did wrestling, a few Asian fighting styles, archery, fencing, tactical fighting, kickboxing, hand to hand, Keith even tried a few non-earthly techniques, like the Altean spear procession, Galran slashswording and a few unnamed styles he had learned off the streets. Keith rewarded any type of success with a small tidbit of earthen culture. Lance essentially figured he was bisexual.

Nothing seemed to work for Lance, he didn’t have enough power in his limbs to actually do most of the non-weapon techniques, he had trouble thinking on his feet and his sword/spear handling was horrific. The only thing he seemed to have an okay grip on was archery, he barely had enough strength to pull back the arrow, but his aim was something to admire.

Keith also had trouble teaching him because his head was fuzzy and he kept on coughing. He was holding back sneezes the whole time. Now, when he was explaining the role of a sniper on the field the ticklish feeling cane back, but no amount of pressing his tongue to the roof of his mouth would make it go away, “So essentially you keep an ey-“ Keith cut himself off with a violent sneeze.

When he looked up, Lance was staring at him, his tired face broke into a smile, “That was adorable.” A giggle, “It was like an aggressive kitten sneeze and your ears just…” Lance tried to copy the movement with his hands, “…floofed.”

Keith gave him a look as he reached up self consciously to his Galra ears, which had popped out when he sneezed, “Sorry, I can’d really control dem suber well.” Great. Now his nose was stuffy.

Lance yawned, “Can we go to bed after sniping? Please?” Lance clasped his hands together. Keith wiped his nose and shrugged. Lance smiled as he slipped over to the armory and grabbed a gun. Walking over to the shooting range. Why a Galra ship had a shooting range, Keith couldn’t tell you.

Keith moved next to Lance and went over basic gun procedures. Lance nodded following all of Keith’s instructions carefully. When he was done Keith told him to aim and fire. Lance fired three times.

All of them were inside the black circle, Keith looked over incredulously, “Lance?”

Lance didn’t turn, “Yeah?”

“I think we found your thing.” Keith expected screaming and jumping.

But he only got an exhausted, “I can go to bed now, right?” He knew Lance was going beyond his limits, and it was okay to be tired, Keith was proud, but he wanted Lance to spend a little time, now, to explore his talent with a gun.

Sighing, Keith nodded. Lance grinned, put the gun away and stumbled out of the training room. Keith concentrated on his ears and retracted the Galra ones, pushing out his human ears.

The rest of his body seemed to stay in human form as long as he didn’t feel defensive or angry, his ears on the other hand took a little bit of concentration. The second it was broken, they popped out. Lance didn’t seem to have a problem, but others would, the Galra were known to be a merciless, predatory species. People would hate him as soon as they saw he was part Galra. He wanted to be able to avoid that. He didn’t want to be the bad guy.

Keith didn’t sleep that night, partially because he was plagued by his thoughts and partially because he couldn’t breathe out of his nose.

The next morning, Keith dragged himself out of bed. He watched over the Prince as he ate, not feeling up to eating himself. His throat felt like he was swallowing sandpaper. As he trained with Lance, he couldn’t hold back hacking coughs and violent sneezes. Keith waved him off when Lance asked him if he wanted to lay down.

All in all, the day pretty much sucked until they got an alert of a hostile ship approaching. Keith ran to the control room, Lance on his heels. There were three Galra ships approaching, all of them had Lotor’s insignia scrawled across the front.

 

Lance was holding himself up on a nearby panel, he seemed to be struggling to breathe. Keith grabbed his shoulder, “We need to fight back, okay? You stay here, I’m going to get one of those pods and try to chase them away.” 

Lance nodded, “Good lu-luck.” He mumbled, Keith smiled and ran out to get a pod.

 

•••

 

Ten minutes of directly attacking the ships later, Keith hadn’t gotten anywhere. He had tried his best to catch the pilots off guard, but they seemed to know where he was at all times. He tried to shoot up from underneath them, but one ship broke formation and shot at him instead.

As Keith dodged their rays, a communication request came through. It was from an unknown source. He tapped the receive button as he veered away from the ships.

On his little screen a face surrounded by a mess of caramel hair popped up, “Hailing pod being attacked by Galra ships. We are willing to assist you, we can take down the ship closest to the planet.” The eyes almost matched the hair, but they were a little darker. Keith couldn’t tell if the person was male or female, but their face had female angles.

Keith looked back up at the Galra ships. He could take out two, “Responding to willing assistance, fire away.” He closed the communication tab and flew right at the second ship, just as the first ship stuttered and fell into the planet’s atmosphere. The second ship was taken out by a few shots. But when Keith turned his pod, he couldn’t find the first ship. He scanned the space around him before turning back and docking his ship back on the stolen one.

After he copied the comm link from his ship and downloaded it to the main ship, he made his way to the control room. Lance had just opened the communication when Keith walked in.

“Thanks for the help back there!” He said as he walked in. The caramel haired person was on the screen along with a big dark haired man with a warm complexion and an orange headband.

Caramel hair waved at him, “I’m Pidge and this is Hunk.” Keith nodded, Pidge continued, “Okay, so we were just asking Lance if he could do us a favor in exchange for helping you.” They seemed a little sheepish.

Keith sighed, he had figured this was coming, “Depends on your favor.”

Pidge opened their mouth to explain, but Hunk cut Pidge off, “So, we’re kinda stuck on this planet and we were wondering if you could get us off.”


	16. NOT A CHAPTER

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ok. So INFO TIME!
> 
> Jk.

Ok. So I reread all of my work to see where I should take this in Part 16. 

 

Then, I realized, Woah! I actually suck at this!

For you crazy people out there who actually appreciate my writing, don’t worry. I’m just gonna do some major editing. Nothing much on the plot, just fixing up the tone and making it more organized in a way. 

 

 

THANK YOU FOR ANY SOULS WHO HAD PITY AND GAVE ME KUDOS!!!! Like, I actually love you guys, bc I’m new to this and Klance is my life. 

 

Sorry. This might mean that new chapters are gonna be on hold till I’m done. 

 

There’s gonna be a special chapter on Keith’s birthday no matter what tho ;/\ 

 

anyhoo, I hope you all have fun reading my trash! I swear I’m going to start trying. 


	17. Still not a chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY

Oke doke

so nothing really changed. But if you have the extra time I would reread 15. 

 

Everything else is pretty much the same. 

I’m thinking of doing a deleted scenes chapter at the end so look forward to that. 

 

 

 

Now to bust my ass and make enough chapters to do the special for Keith’s Birthday. 

 

Expect frequent updates

 

Finally,

THANK YOU, to everyone who is sticking with me. I’m getting to the good parts. 


	18. Part 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eh, they just get to know Pidge and Hunk. That’s it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woooo filler chapters fr life. 
> 
> Jk. 
> 
>  
> 
> I’m sorry.

      Once Pidge and Hunk were on their ship, Lance stared at them for a minute, they looked exactly like Alteans, but they didn’t have markings. 

“So, are you human?” Lance was used to being blunt, because nobody was allowed to be offended around him.

Pidge nodded, “Yup, but we haven’t been to the Human Sector in a few years, so…” she trailed off.

Lance was vaguely aware of Keith shuffling behind him, he turned around to see Keith staring at Pidge. He twisted his fingers together before he began to ask, “Okay, so no offense of anything. But are you a boy or a girl?” His tone was kind of awkward, “You don’t have to answer.” Keith mumbled. Lance thought it was kind of rude question, but he was curious too.

Pidge seemed fine with it though, because she smiled and shook her head, “Don’t worry about it, I get it all the time. I’m a girl. I just spent some time with a fake identity to- y’know what? It’s a long story, I’ll tell you guys later.

There was an awkward silence. Hunk opened his mouth a few times, then seemed to fall back into his thoughts. Lance wasn’t used to this, normally he could carry a conversation for hours. By the time Hunk finally spoke up, he was wondering if he had been cursed, “Um, so, why were you guys being chased by the Galra?” Hunk asked. His voice was higher than Lance expected, but it still fit him.

“Oh, I was supposed to marry Prince Lotor, which nobody really wanted, so Keith helped me escape.” Lance jumped at the opportunity to fill up the silence. It it was a super vague description of their adventure, but he didn’t totally trust these humans, “It was an interesting situation.”

Pidge cocked her head, “That would me-“ She was cut off by a violent sneeze from behind Lance. He turned to see Keith rubbing his nose, his Galra ears out and his hair all fluffed up around his face. Lance smiled, Keith looked adorable with his ears out. There was a squeak from Pidge as she held her hands over her mouth, Lance saw a flash of fear in Keith’s eyes before he bought down that icy wall.

Hunk moved forward, “Oh my god! That is so adorable!”

Pidge nodded, her eyes shining, “Can I touch them?” Keith looked a little uncomfortable, Pidge immediately picked up on it, “No, actually. It’s okay. We literally just met you and that would be weird.”

Hunk nodded, “But your ears are super cute.”

Lance smiled, “That’s what I always say! But he just glares at me as he…puts them away.” He looked back at Keith’s face, his eyes were closed, and Lance couldn’t quite read the little scrunch if his nose.

Keith ignored Lance’s comment and lightly shook his head, “Don’t worry about it. I’m just not super comfortable with people touching me.”

Hunk nodded, “That’s totally cool, man.”

Lance and turned to Keith, “So you want to continue training?”

Keith shrugged, “Your choice Highness.”

Lance groaned, “I told you to just call me Lance!”

Keith opened his mouth to correct himself, Hunk cut him off, “Highness? You’re royalty?”

Lance shrugged, “I’m the Altean Prince. That’s what got me into this mess, but yeah.”

Pidge looked between Lance and Keith with a raised eyebrow, “So, two, are you guys…” she gestured between the both of them.

Lance laughed as Keith wrinkled his nose, “No, no. His brother is super hot though.” Lance blurted.

Keith choked, “Excuse me, Highness, but my brother is eight years older than you.”

Hunk and Pidge bust out laughing. Hunk put a heavy hand on Lance’s shoulder, “I like you, where’s the kitchen?”

Lance raised an eyebrow, “What?”

Hunk smiled, “I’m a chef. I cook for people I like.” He gestured at Keith, “This one looks like he hasn’t eaten in months.”

Lance turned to Keith, “You wanna take him? I’ll meet you in the training room.”

Keith nodded and gestured for Hunk to follow him. Lance showed Pidge her room. She dropped her bag and followed Lance out. To “see what kind of tech you use.”

By the time he got to the training deck, Keith was already there, waiting. Lance jogged up and grabbed his gun.

“What are we doing?” He asked. Lance couldn’t for the life of him remember what they were doing before the Galra attacked.

Keith looked around the room, “Okay. You’re gonna have to trust me on this one.” Lance started worrying as soon as the words left Keith’s lips, “You.” He pointed at Lance are going to shoot at me,” He said pointing at himself, “while I’m fighting the training bot.”

Lance was not okay with this, “I can’t shoot at you! What if I accidentally hit you in a bad spot? What if I hurt you?”

Keith stopped him with a look, “Your-Lance. Your father provides us with very good armor. The goal is to get in fifteen shots before I take down the robot.” He didn’t wait for Lance to argue, “As soon as something goes wrong I’ll stop everything.”

Lance wasn’t sure, but he still nodded. He went to the “sniper spot” as he like to call it, and waited for Keith to start.

•••

 

Two hours later, Lance hadn’t gotten more than six shots on Keith, and Keith had completed twenty eight levels on the training bot.

The training bot ran at Keith. He ducked under it’s swing and landed a good hit in it’s gut. Lance shot at him as he backed away a little, hitting him on the hip. The bot didn’t stop. It stepped around Keith and swung. Keith ducked again. Lance shot, hitting his thigh as he swung his foot at the robot’s ankles. The training bot lost its balance and Keith took his chance and slammed his fist into the robot’s face.

“End training simulation.” Keith called out.

Hunk walked in, he seemed sheepish, “So I just realized we’ve been super forward about…everything, and I just kind of wanted to apologize for…yeah.”

Lance hopped off his post and walked up to Hunk, “No problem! I’ve been stuck with Keith for weeks, I like the new company.”

Pidge walked in, “Can we eat? I’m actually starving.”

“Wait, What did you eat on that planet, anyway?” Lance asked, it wasn’t a very fertile planet according to the ship’s scans.

Hunk and Pidge shuddered simultaneously, “You seriously don’t want to know.”

Lance quirked an eyebrow, but let the subject drop as they walked to the dining hall together. Hunk had cooked up a storm, the entire table, which was actually super huge, was piled high with food. Pidge immediately sat down and dug in. Lance took a moment to thank Hunk before following her example. Hunk sat down next to him and ate at a reasonably slower pace.

After Lance had somewhat quelled the hunger he had built up during training, he noticed Keith was standing at a guard positions by the door. He sighed and turned around, trying to seem exasperated and not as worried as he actually was, “Keith! Why are you not eating with us!”

Keith, who had been quietly fiddling with his strings, looked up, startled, “I’m-“ his voice came out painfully hoarse, Keith tried to clear out his throat. When he spoke again, it wasn’t much better, but he could get words out, “I’m not hungry.” He said quietly.

“Are you feeling alright?” Hunk asked. He seemed genuinely concerned, despite barely knowing Keith.

Keith nodded and tried to answer, but his voice was not helping him, so Lance answered for him, “He’s had something for a few days now. I think he got it when we got caught in the rain by the market. Remember?” He directed the last part of the question at Keith, who nodded.

Hunk stood up and made his way around the table, to grab Keith’s shoulder, “Where is your room?” He asked, stern but not rough.

Keith gently pulled his arm out of Hunk’s grip as he shot a questioning look at Lance who nodded his head.

As they walked away, Lance turned to Pidge, who swallowed whatever she was chewing and said, “He’s strangely protective when people get sick.” She shrugged, “I wouldn’t worry, Keith should be fine by tomorrow.”

Lance nodded, it was weird, these people who had just popped up on their ship had his complete trust. Lance brushed off his doubtful thoughts, “Good to know.”

Pidge shoved something else in her mouth, talking around it, “Why is he like that anyway? Standing around, all mysterious or whatever.”

Lance shrugged, “He’s only been my guard for a few weeks. I think he’s one of those quiet types who only do what they are trained to.” Lance thought back to the first market they went to, “But maybe not. He’s an interesting guy. He won’t open up to me because I’m a ‘prince’ or whatever.” He made air quotes when he said prince.

Pidge tilted her head, “Do you think it would offend him if I asked?” She said as she brushed her fluffy hair away from her face. Lance wondered about her backstory again, but she had already shot him down once.

He shrugged, “I have honestly no clue. Sorry.”

He had just finished talking, when Hunk walked in. They looked at him expectantly, “He’s got a high fever and he’s loosing his voice. He’ll be okay, though.” Hunk scanned the table, “I think I can repurpose some of this stuff into a good soup for him.”

Lance scraped his plate clean and started taking dishes to the kitchen, he couldn’t help but feel bad about not helping Keith as soon as he knew he was sick.


	19. Part 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chocolate muffins. That is all I have to say to you.

      It took two days of being confined to his bed and drinking soup for Keith to get better. Lance had popped into his room to give him soup or a bottle of hot water. It was weird to see him, pale and vulnerable under his sheets or sitting up looking tiny in the huge sweatshirt that he wore when he saved Lance from Lotor. Keith preferred to be alone, he didn’t say it but it was all there in his body language. 

In the mean time Lance, Hunk and Pidge got along great. Hunk was from a family of chefs and was really good at engineering. He wanted to go around the universe and try different cooking styles from as many planets as possible.

Pidge was a genius with any kind of technology, she had been Hunk’s best friend since they were children. Lance fit right in with his general sarcasm and sunshiny attitude. He and Hunk were immediate friends, no questions asked. Pidge in the other hand wasn’t quite so trusting. But after helping him untangle himself from a pile of wires after he tried to make a pun out of them, they were thick as thieves.

When Keith got out of bed, Pidge tried to talk to him, but he just gave her the same bits of information he gave Lance. Hunk tried to befriend him, but Keith distanced himself.

“I just don’t get it.” Hunk told Lance one day, “Why does he not even try? I mean, he clearly needs someone to take care of him. Like, who does nothing when they know they’re sick?”

Lance shrugged, “I have no clue, he acts so stiff, but sometimes, rarely, he opens up. Smiles a little, like when he’s fighting or eating…um, I don’t remember what it was called but it was sweet and a little bitter, dark brown, came in a slab wrapped in paper?” Hunk shrugged, Lance tapped his forehead, “I know this! Ch...Ch-something.”

Hunk drew his eyebrows together, “Cherries?” Lance shook his head no, “Chicken?” No, “Chocolate?”

Lance’s head shot up, “Yes! That’s it! That’s what he likes! Chocolate.”

Hunk smiled, “I have some cocoa powder, I could try to make something.”

Lance nodded, smiling. Pidge walked up to them, “I updated the training bot to be more adaptive to fighting styles, Keith’s testing right now. What’re you people up to?”

Lance told her as they followed Hunk to the kitchen. He watched over their shoulders as Pidge helped Hunk measure out ingredients for “chocolate muffins”. Hunk whirled around the kitchen, humming and mumbling to himself.

Pidge leaned on the island next to Lance, “He’s always super happy when he cooks. It’s kind of refreshing after spending hours with heartless machines.” Lance nodded.

He was about to respond when he heard the oven shut, Hunk let out a satisfied sigh, “Now, we wait.”

Lance thought for a minute, “Should we call Keith now?”

Pidge shook her head, “No, we should give him one when they’re all done, that way we won’t have to wait for them to cool.”

Lance nodded seriously, “That is fantastic advice, O Great One.” They both cracked up as Hunk watched them smiling.

Pidge was telling Lance about her parents, when a loud screeching noise cut her off. Lance immediately panicked, it sounded like the castle alarm. Hunk ran to the oven, yelling, “Turn it off! Turn it off!” When the sound finally faded out, they were all breathing heavily.

Hunk was taping the muffins out of their little pockets when Keith ran in looking on edge, “What was the alarm for?” He asked in a rush.

“We made you muffins!” Hunk said holding one up, “Lance told us you liked chocolate.”

Keith’s expression melted from urgent into guilty, “Oh, um.” He rubbed his arm, “That was really nice, but, I’m lactose intolerant.”

Lance was confused to say the least, “But you ate that slab awhile ago. How was that different.”

Keith sucked his head, “That was dark, it didn’t have milk. Sorry.”

“What? No. It’s fine.” Pidge said taking a step towards the muffins, “I get to eat yours now. Thanks Keith!”

Hunk slapped her hand away, “No, I get his. I made them after all.”

Lance stepped up to the tray, facing off with Hunk, “But I’m royalty.”

They all lunged for it at the same time. Lance snagged it first, then Bunk tapped it out of his hand right into Pidge’s. It was all out war. They scrambled bed each other to snag the muffin. Soon, the whole tray was on the floor and all of them were covered in chocolate crumbs.

Lance turned to see Keith, looking at them in pure shock, before his face cracked into a timid smile. He walked forward and plucked the tray off Hunk’s head and helped him up, “I’ll help you guys clean.” He said, not unkindly.”

Lance couldn’t help but shoot him a warm smile, “I think we’ll need it.”


	20. Part 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro and Keith have a little discussion, and Lance come to a realization.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did not in fact have tome to even start writing this until this morining. Sorry. O will still have a special for Keith’s birthday though;)

       Lance was listening to music and chilling in his room when Hunk barged in an told him they were landing. He and Pidge has tagged along, saying they had nowhere to go. Lance  jumped out of his seat, he needed to get ready. His family couldn’t see him like this, he couldn’t even let Hunk see him like this. He hadn’t done his cleaning yet, he knew his face was pale and disgusting, he hadn’t even washed it this morning. 

Lance shoved Hunk out the door, telling him he would be out in a minute. It took an hour, he did his facial treatment, then decided his legs were too hairy, even if he was wearing pants, so he shaved, which led to him plucking his eyebrows, which led to many other things. By the time he was out, Keith was carefully maneuvering the huge ship into a lane.

When the ship landed they all made their way to the ramp. Lance’s family and Shiro were waiting for them at the bottom. Lance ran full speed at Allura and his parents, landing in their arms, too distracted to notice Keith and Shiro greet each other and Keith introducing Hunk and Pidge. Only when Allura peeled him off her waist, did he realize his father was shaking hands with Hunk and Pidge.

Then he turned to Keith, “Thank you for bringing my son back to us.” His eyes shine with feeling, “I’m sure it wasn’t easy for you.”

Keith bowed to his King, “It was no problem, Your Majesty.”

The King laughed and patted Keith’s shoulder, “I’m sure you are all tired. I’ll have rooms prepared for you.” He looked back at Keith, “Would you like your own room or do you want to stay with Shiro?”

Lance watched as Keith’s eyes flicked up to Shiro, who gave him a look. Keith wrinkled his nose, “I would prefer a room to myself Highness.”

Lance’s dad laughed again, “Of course, Keith.”

 

•••

 

At the dinner table, the King insisted Keith and Shiro ate with them. The two guards complied. Lance was quick to start telling his family about his journey, his tale was a little exaggerated, and he left out a few parts, like the fact that Keith was Galra and the fact that he had only recently learned to fight. His father seemed very amused while his mom kept shooting Lance worried looks. Allura was enraptured by his tale and kept asking questions, this was the first time Hunk and Pidge were hearing about it too.

Out of the corner of his eye, Lance witnessed Shiro try to steal food from Keith’s plate and narrowly miss getting his hand stabbed through with a fork and a bunch of nudges and quiet questions whispered between the two. When Lance got to the part about the arena, Keith shrank in his seat as everyone turned to stare at him and Shiro grabbed his arm.

Shiro whispered something in his ear as Lance went on with his story. Keith whispered a number, 6. Lance flashed back to Keith in the arena, bowed over Shadow Keeper. He shot Keith a worried look and tried to make the rest of their trip seem better.

His parents laughed when they heard what happened at the market. Allura told him he was an idiot countless times, Hunk and Pidge sat quietly through it all.

It’s had been an hour when he finished his tale, Hunk yawned wide. King Alfor stood, “Well, it sounds like you have all had a long journey, I think it’s best we all get to bed.”

There were nods all around the table, they trailed out of the room. Before he left Lance’s gaze flashed over Keith’s plate. He hadn’t eaten much, right in the middle a surprisingly accurate Altean Palace stood, made out of food. Lance laughed to himself. It was a cute habit. He followed his parents out.

•••

 

The next morning, he walked past the training room, stopping when he saw Shiro and Keith sparring. It was amazing to watch, Shiro’s fighting style relied mostly on his hands and was a series of quick sharp movements. Keith’s style was more fluid and used his whole body.

They fought for who knows how long until Shiro finally caught Keith in between his movements and pinned him. Keith struggled for a moment before tapping the ground.

Shiro let him up, “I think that’s the longest you’ve held out.” He ruffled Keith’s hair, “Don’t tell me you locked yourself away on the training deck.” Keith looked down at his feet. Shiro sighed, “Keith. You can’t do that, the Prince probably thinks you hate him.”

Keith glared at the ground, “I didn’t do it the whole trip. I hung out with him sometimes.” Keith seemed to make a decision. He moved away from Shiro’s arm, getting at least a foot of space between them, “Shiro, I need to tell you something. Just promise me you-never mind.”

Shiro tried to reach out to him, but Keith back away, “Keith, you can tell me anything. Just spit it out.”

Keith stepped away farther, “I’m Galra. Please do-don’t leave.” He stumbled over his words a little.

Shiro stared at him for a minute. Then he sighed and scratched the back of his neck, “I don’t care.” Keith’s head shot up, “You’re Galra. Okay. Have you ever tried to kill me or hurt me? No.” He saw Keith’s look of surprise and smiled, “You’re my little brother Keith, I don’t care what your race is.”

There was a minute of silence, then Keith launched himself into Shiro’s waiting arms.

Lance smiled and walked away, he had a ton of brothers, but they were all years older than him and none of them would ever think of giving him a hug like that. It was nice to see that Keith like that, not hiding anything. Lance had Allura and Keith had Shiro.

Lance walked into the dining room smiling, Allura immediately noticed. “Who caught your eye?” She whispered as he sat next to her.

Lance turned to her, “What!? No one! Why?!”

Allura smirked, “You have that lovesick expression you always have when you met a really pretty girl.” She held out the last word, teasing him.

Lance shook his head, “I didn’t see any ‘pretty girls’ on my way here.” He saw Allura about to say something, “Or guys.” He quickly added, “I didn’t see anyone on my way here.”

Allura kept nagging him, “Was there a particularly beautiful wall?” She questioned, “Or a pair of curtains you’re attracted to? Polyamory is technically legal in Altea.”

“Oh my _god_ , shut up!” Lance said whisper yelling, he shoved a piece of bread in her mouth before she could start talking again. Allura chewed in silent defeat.

Then Keith and Shiro walked in. Keith was in pristine condition as always, but Shiro had a red tint to his cheeks and his hair was brushed out of his eyes. Allura sucked in a breath next to him and started choking on her bread. Lance turned to her, amusement dancing in his eyes. He leaned over, “Shiro’s kinda hot.” He muttered

Allura cleared her throat and turned to him, cheeks burning, “Shut up!”

Lance snickered, “Is he your type?” Allura turned away, Lance chose to keep annoying her, Shiro turned around to whisper something to Keith, “Look at that ass.” He whispered in a low voice, directly into Allura’s ear, “I bet he could go all-“

Allura cut him off, her eyes wide and her entire face burning, “ _Lance_ , you are a Prince Of Altea!”

Lance shrugged, “Just saying.” Shiro did have a cute ass, but he wasn’t Lance’s type. His brother on the other hand...oh. _Oh_. Oh no. Lance locked his eyes on his plate, there is no way. Nope. His brother was t his type either. Uh uh. He was just a hot guard who was coincidentally appealing to Lance.

Lance wasn’t in love with him, he was just a friend. Yup, just a friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Just friends” that’s funny Lance


	21. ITS KEITHS BIRTHDAY

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mega angst

      Keith was in a good mood. He was with Shiro. Shiro who didn’t care that he was Galra. Good mood meant training, like literally every other emotion. He figured Lance could try the other drill again. 

He found Lance in the common room, sitting off to the side as Pidge and Hunk hunched over a pile of wires. Keith called out to him, “I want you to try that other drill again, if you don’t mind.”

Lance looked worried, “The one where I shoot at you?”

Keith nodded, “I figured something that might make it easier for you.”

Lance reluctantly pulled himself out of the seat, Keith didn’t get why he seemed so unwilling, he could just say no. They made their way to the training deck, similar to the Galran one, except the tech use a different power source. Keith set the training droid to the lowest level and told Lance to fire at it instead of him.

One and a half hours later, Lance had gotten to the goal three times, once when he was shooting at Keith. They were giddy and about to start again when Shiro walked in, asking for a moment with the Prince. Keith didn’t mean to listen in as he put away the equipment, he just happened to hear Shiro mention his birthday. Which surprised him because he totally forgot that was today.

When Lance got back, he was smiling wide, “We’re going shopping!” He cried throwing his hands up.

Keith raised an eyebrow, “Why?”

Lance dropped his hands, “Because we need supplies and everyone else has stuff to do.”

Keith sighed, “If you get attacked, I’m leaving you to defend yourself.” He muttered as he walked away.

Lance grinned, “Shiro says he has some of your clothes in his room, if you want them.”

Keith waved with out turning around.

 

•••

 

Several hours later they were returning from a nearby market, carrying a bunch of bags. Lance was talking about all the pranks he had pulled with Allura and other stories from his childhood. Keith was laughing along, forgetting his obligation to show the utmost respect the the Prince.

As soon as they stepped up the the door of the place, Leith could hear the sounds of a fight, he dropped his bags and ran. He burst into the common room to see everyone fighting. The king and the queen were back to back, Princess Allura was protecting Pidge and Hunk, and Shiro was cutting down everyone in his path farther away. All of the were pinned down by Galra.

Keith heard a squeak behind him. Lance. He didn’t have time to worry about the Prince. Keith knew he was armed and capable of protecting himself for a little while. Keith jumped over and slashed down soldiers to help the Princess. Keith’s mind settled into an easy pattern as he fought, getting comfortable.

The Princess was a force to be reckoned with, she had and energy whip, that she could handle. Very well. Keith was honestly kind of sacred of her. He heard a shout as he knocked down a soldier they were finally starting to thin out. He whipped around to see Shiro gripping his non-prosthetic shoulder. He was about to call out when a soldier tried to hit him from behind. Keith whirled around and knocked him out with the hilt of his knife. There were only a few guards left.

Keith turned back to Shiro who was smiling at him, “Well this is a good a time as any. Happy Birthda-“ There was a flash behind him, Keith immediately threw his dagger at the man behind Shiro. Shiro’s expression shifted from warm smile to a shocked stare.

Keith’s gaze fell to his chest, where a spot of red was slowly expanding. He looked back up at Shiro with a horrified gaze. No. He ran. _No_. Shiro lifelessly fell onto the ground, there was a man behind him. Keith lashed out. There was no way.

There was a wet cough below him as the soldier fell. He slowly sank to his knees, carefully pulling Shiro in front of him. _No_. He heard someone scream. He felt his hands grasping Shiro’s shoulders. _No_.

Keith called out for his brother, to his family, to the only one he had left. _No_. He shook Shiro’s body as he heard his own voice, loud and shrill calling his name. No. _No_. _No_. _No_. He heard footsteps thundering on either side of him, someone dropping to their knees next to him. He heard someone call out his name. He heard his terrified shrieks calling out to the one who was always there for him. Keith hugged Shiro’s body close to him and pleaded, begged, for him to come back.

The eyes were lifeless, the blood was black, there was no sound. Clouds in his head, his brother. He called out for Shiro as he was pulled away. He struggled against the hands, his _brother_. He screamed for Shiro to wake up. For the first time in their lives, he didn’t respond.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so sorry


	22. Part 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They are all trying

Every time Lance closed his eyes he could see Keith struggling against Hunk and Allura, his eyes slitted and cat-like, his Galra ears out, screaming for his brother. He couldn’t sleep like this. He didn’t feel right sleeping while Keith had to deal with the loss of his only family.

Lance swung his legs over the side of his bed. He made his way to the hallway and crept into Allura’s room. She was asleep, Lance tucked himself into her arms and let her breaths calm him. Allura mumbled something and turned over, right into Lance.

“Lance?” She muttered, her voice heavy with sleep.

“I couldn’t sleep.” He whispered into her nightgown.

Allura hummed and pulled him into her chest, snuggling into him, “He’s strong, he’ll get through it.” She mumbled, “He just needs a friend.” Lance clutched her closer as he slipped into a light sleep.

 

•••

 

The next morning, after much protest from Lance and Allura, their parents decided to take Allura, who was getting married soon, the Southern Kingdoms for protection, while Lance was sent with Keith, Hunk and Pidge to wander the galaxy and search for shelter. There was a lot of yelling and tears involved in the decision, but it was final.

Lance said goodbye to his family and stepped aboard a large unmarked ship. Here he was again, apart from his family and stuck with people he barely knew.

Keith had stayed quiet the whole time. His expression was blank, no trace of the fear or anger or any emotion he had the day before. Even when Lance’s dad apologized for Shiro and asked him to take care of his son. Keith just nodded and followed the others into the ship. Lance saw him walk away from them as soon as they set course for a nearby star system.

After a few days, Lance got worried. Whenever he had gone to find Keith, he was working himself harder and harder in the training room. Keith turned up to meals ragged and bruised, he had dark circles under his eyes and his skin got paler by the day.

On the third day, Keith walked into the dining hall for lunch fifteen minutes late. He was stick thin, his eyes were deep set and dark, you could see the veins in his arms, if you looked past how black and blue they were. Keith was wearing a tank top and shorts, he would’ve looked cute if he didn’t already look like death.

Lance walked up to him and stood right in front of him, “Are you okay?” Keith nodded mutely, it had been days since Lance had heard his voice. Lance shook his head, “Talk to me. I know this is hard, but you need to take care of yourself.”

Keith shook his head adamantly, “I’m fine Lance.” His voice was rough, croaky and choppy from disuse. He brushed past Lance and sat away from all of them. On the first day, he had come in to watch over them as a guard, but everyone agreed that it was awkward so he just sat with them. 

Lance sat too and continued eating. Minutes ticked by in silence. Lance watched Keith pick at his food for a while before Keith looked up at Hunk guiltily, “The food is great Hunk. I’m just not hungry right now” Hunk nodded sadly as Keith pushed out his chair and left.

Three seconds passed before Lance got up and went to the mini control panel in the corner of the room. He shut down the power in the training room and everything related.

Pidge cleared her throat, “He’s not going to like that.” She said. Hunk nodded.

Lance glared at the control panel, “He needs to find a better outlet for his…whatever he’s feeling!” Lance was frustrated, Keith wouldn’t talk to any of them about his feeling or anything and expect them to leave him alone. Lance couldn’t do that. He was worried. Keith was going to hurt himself at this rate.

He reminded Lance of his younger self. When his grandfather died. He hiked himself up in his room and cried for weeks, Allura was the only one who could get to him.

“Earth to Lance.” Pidge pokes him in the side of his head. Sometime during his inner whatever it was, Lance had migrated back to his seat.

“Huh? What is it?” He asked feeling a little all over the place.

Hunk smiled at him, “We were just wondering if you were planning on talking to him.”

Lance shook his head, “He won’t listen. He isn’t the talking type.” Lance thought back, “He was kind of like this after he found out he was Galra, too. He kind of shuts down his emotions.”

Pidge’s eyebrows scrunched together, “What are you going to do about it?”

Lance’s mind flashed to when his grandfather died. There was something Allura did, “I might have an idea.” He mumbled. He took his plate to the kitchen and went to his room. This might just work.

Lance scrounged up a writing pad and some kind of pen. He sat at the desk at the corner of the room and started writing

_Dear Keith,_

_Ten years ago, my grandfather gave me a book. It was a normal book, average size, red cover, no holopics, the pages were worn and well loved. It was filled with tales from long ago, about heroes and princesses and dragons._

_The same day he gave me the book, he caught some kind of disease and died within the week. Every night as he lay in his bed, I read him stories from the book. He laughed when I changed my voice for the characters and cut myself off to tell jokes._

_I miss him a lot. I know you are hurting. I know you miss Shiro. I know how overwhelming it feels right now. But we need you to snap out of it, because I know for sure that Shiro wouldn’t want you to do this, and I sure as hell don’t want his ghost haunting me forever because I didn’t stop you._

_I promise you it will get better._

_From,_

_Lance_

Lance padded over to Keith’s room, two doors down from his own, slipped the letter under his door and walked off to find Hunk and Pidge.

 

•••

 

Around two hours later, he walked into his room to find a scrap of paper finch in front of his door. In cute, round handwriting it said

_Give me time. I’m trying._

Lance couldn’t help but to smile softly at the letter. He liked Keith’s handwriting, not for any specific reason, it was just visually pleasing. It was kind of cute in general. He put in the top drawer of his dresser, hoping to have a collection.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. A holopic is me trying to make this seem futuristic  
> 2\. The letter part is totally a rip off of Dear Keith by Redjay27. Great fic. Read it.  
> 3\. The fairytales in the letters are going to be from our time period.


	23. Part 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluff.

_Dear Keith,_

_A long time ago, there was a farm. It was the only occupied land for miles. It was fabled to have the juiciest fruits and the healthiest animals. It was taken care of by an old man._

_Far away, a small village was starving. Their crops had failed to grow for many years and the animals were thinning out, they were struggling to survive. There was one young man who was stronger than all the men in the village, he hunted most of the food they ate and built most of the houses they lived in. The people relied on him and trusted him with their lives._

_One day this young man heard of the farm, far away, but filled with everything his people would need to survive! He packed his bags and promised to come back with enough food for all of them._

_The journey was hard and long, he trekked through the dry desert and the cool tundra and the many lands in between. After a year of traveling he came upon the farm. The old man warned him that the fruit and meat came with a price, but the young man was blinded by the surplus of food in front of him. He took as much as he could carry and started his way home._

_Half way through his journey, he sold a little of the food for a satchel to carry it in. Soon he decided to stay in the market and sell all the food for money. The people of the village would assume he was dead and continue hunting for food or move the village somewhere better suited for their needs._

_A month into the young man’s life of paradise, the old man from the farm cane to his home._

_“Are you satisfied?” Was all he asked._

_The young man responded confidently, “Of course! I have everything I’ve every wanted.”_

_This happened every month for the next two years. Then, one month the old man said, “You are now the last survivor of your village. Are you satisfied?” The going man couldn’t find it in him to response. The old man left, as he always did._

_The next day the young man woke up to find himself laying in an alleyway, wearing torn rags and covered by an old tattered blanket. The old man returned._

_“You have stolen from your own people and loved while they died. Then, when you are asked if you are satisfied with your life now, you don’t even pretend to have a conscience. You do not deserve what you stole, so it does not belong to you.” He said this simply and disappeared._

_The young man starved and died not a week later._

 

_This is another story from the book. It’s kind of dark but it kind of makes me realize that is okay to be sad._

_From_

_Lance_

 

It was the third letter Lance had slipped under Keith’s door. The first one was the one where he explained about his grandfather and the book, the second one was another fairytale about a warrior who was captured by a dragon, who turned out to be a human and fell in love with the warrior. It was weird but it seemed like something that Keith would like. So he copied into a piece of paper, signed it and slipped it under Keith’s door. Keith hadn’t responded, but Lance knew he got the letter.

It had been a week since his father sent them away. Keith was eating a little better and stopped going to the training room so often, though sometimes Lance passed the door and saw him throwing knifes at a target and hitting the exact same spot over and over again. Even though he hit dead center everyone, Lance watched Keith run for his knife, step back and throw again. Lance knew why he did this and it worried him a little, but Keith would be Keith and there wasn’t much Lance could do about it.

Pidge has found a peaceful star system that was far away from all Galran planets and had no previous contact with Lotor. They were going to arrive in two days time.

It was pushy and selfish, but Lance wanted Keith to be better by then. So he sent letters.

After spending the evening fetching tools and snacks for Hunk and Pidge as they tried to update the system so they could track the star system easier, Lance made his way back to his room to find a little scrap of paper from Keith.

It was a drawing this time, a surprisingly well drawn depiction of the old man asking the younger man if he was satisfied. Lance gaped at it for a moment. It was…really good! Everything was apparent even though there were no words. The detail in everything was so fine and, just, perfect! Lance grabbed a piece of paper and wrote

_YOU’RE SO GOOD AT THIS_

In all caps and and ran over to Keith’s to slip it under his door. He waited outside for a minute, as he always did. This time the response was quick. Lance grabbed the scrap of paper. It essentially told him that Keith learned yo draw as a necessity for his assassin training. Lance couldn’t help but wince whenever he remembered that Keith was literally a trained killer.

He shook off the thought. Dinner was in a bit and he needed to do a major clean up. Lance smiled and locked himself in the huge bathroom.

 

Lance walked into the dining room feeling refreshed. He was surprised to see Keith sporting a deadpan expression and Pidge laughing her butt off next to him. He walked up to them, “What’s so funny?”

Pidge took a deep breath to try and calm herself, but was strangled by more laughter. Keith rolled his eyes and turned to Lance, “So apparently she talked to my brother while we were with your parents, and he showed her pictures of my emo phase.”

Pidge was attacked by another bout of giggles, she held up her CED to show Lance a picture of a younger Keith. He still had longhair, but his eyes were outlined by heavy eyeliner, making his purple-blue eyes sharp. There was a dark purplish tint on his lips that made them look almost black and he had a choker around his neck. Lance had to bite his fist to hold back a laugh, “How long ago was this?”

Keith sighed, “Two years?”

Lance stared at him for a minute, “Now that I’m looking, nothing much has changed. You just lost the makeup.” Pidge’s forehead hit the table, she was gasping for air.

She caught her breath and opened her mouth to say something to Keith, but was interrupted, yet again, by her laughter. Hunk walked in holding bowls and plates of something interesting. He gave Pidge a disappointed look, “Are you still laughing at Keith?” Pidge snorted, “Come on. We’ve all had our phases.” He gently set down the plates, “When I was, like, seven, I wore a Superman costume under my clothes at all times.”

Keith stared at him, “No.”

Hunk met his gaze, “Yes.”

Pidge, who had finally caught her breath, was giving Hunk a weird look, “Noooo! Not you!” She reached out her hands in a pleading gesture, “You’re the reasonable one!”

Hunk playfully smacked her head, “Shut up.” He set down a plate in front of each person, “I haven’t named this yet, but it’s edible.”

Everyone dug in. It was _good, “_ I think you should call this heaven.” Lance mumbled through a mouthful. Hunk laughed. Keith reached for another serving, Lance caught something glinting on his ear, “Your ears are pierced?” He asked without thinking.

Keith swallowed the food in his mouth, “Yeah, I got them a while ago.” He reached up to the simple studs he had in, “These are made from the metal of Shiro’s old arm. He gave them to me for my birthday.”

There was a tension around the table after the mention of Shiro. Lance wanted to reach over and give Keith a huge hug. Pidge shifted in her seat, “He was really nice.” She said quietly. Hunk nodded.

Keith sighed, “Yeah, he was.” He looked up at the people around the table, “I think it’s obvious Lotor wants Lance or revenge for Lance ditching the wedding. He took my brother, and I will pay him back, but for now we should definitely stay hidden.”

Lance saw what he was trying to do, “Yeah, that’s our best bet. Wait till we’re ready, then take the fight to him.” There were affirmative nods from Pidge and Hunk. Lance turned just in time to see Keith reach up and rub his thumb against his earring. Then he remembered something, “Hey, Keith.” Lance said scraping the last of his food into his fork, “I’ve been practicing a little with my gun. I might want to try that drill again.” He turned back to find Keith absently staring off into space, Lance nudged him, “Keith.”

Keith jumped, his Galra ears popping out, “Sorry, what?”

Lance smiled a little, eyeing the wars, “Nothing.”

Pidge leaned forward, “Wait, if you have those ears, you can’t be human. What species are you?”

Hunk straightened up, “Oh, yeah! I was curious about that when we first met, but it seemed a little rude.”

Lance felt Keith shift in his seat, “Well, I am half human…” he mumbled, “My other half is…um…” he trailed off, his ears flicking downwards, “Galra.” He whispered, his ears were pressed against his head. He looked small and meek, Lance put his hand on Keith’s thigh under the table.

Pidge slammed her hands on the table, “Bro!” Keith flinched, Lance was ready to yell at Pidge, but he saw that her eyes were sparkling, “You are literally a miracle!”

Keith raised his head a little, “What?”

Pidge looked Keith right in the eye, “The Galra are a race that have one fertile window. Before or after, there is no chance of a Galra woman getting pregnant. Sometimes, it’s hard to get it with another Galra, with a different species completely? Forget about it.” She leveled her eyes to Keith’s astonished stare, “But you’re here. Which goes against most of that.”

Hunk’s eyes were wide, “Woah man, that’s…crazy!”

They all stood and began cleaning up the plates as Lance laughed and tossed his arm around Keith’s shoulders, “Keith, our little miracle child.”

Keith raised an eyebrow at Lance, “I’m at least a year older than you.”

Lance laughed again, “Yeah, right.”

Keith turned to face him, “Y- Lance. I’m eighteen.

Lance pulled his arm back to glare at Keith as he picked up his plate , “No way. You’re lying.” Keith shook his head. Lance squinted at him as he compared their heights, “You’re so short! How are you a whole year older than me?!”

Hunk’s eyebrows drew together, “Wait. That would make you the oldest. ‘Cause I’m seventeen and Pidge is what? Fourteen?”

“Fifteen.” Pidge said, “I’m supposing Lance is seventeen, when are your birthdays?”

“I’m turning eighteen next July twenty eighth.” Lance said, still squinting at Keith.

Keith shifted, “I turned eighteen on October twenty third.”

Pidge smirked at Lance, “Sorry, Your Highness, but it seems Keith is our resident responsible adult.”

“Wait.” Hunk’s voice was soft, “Does that mean Shiro, um, you know, on your birthday?”

Keith folded into himself as he nodded. Pidge set her plates deliberately on the table and shot herself at Keith, wrapping her arms around his waist. Keith gave her a soft look and wrapped his own arms around her. Lance and Hunk soon joined them. They stood like that, surrounded by each other until Keith gave breathy laugh, “That’s enough physical affection for one day.” He patted Pidge’s head before she let go.

Needless to say they all fell asleep warm and happy. And full of good food.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lied.


	24. Part 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Landing. “Negotiation”. Nightmare. “I’ll be fine.”
> 
> Sorry. I suck at this and I’m dying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Imma back! 
> 
> This is kind of a filler chapter and I might use some of it in the next one. But I’m not sure so…

The planet they landed on was lush and green. Keith couldn’t help but be on edge. So far, every time they had landed on an unknown planet Lance had gotten attacked. It could happen at any moment, he had to be on guard. He eyed Pidge and Hunk. They had popped out of nowhere and suddenly Lance trusted them completely. Keith knew it wasn’t nice of him to not trust them after they had comforted him, but he couldn’t help it. He was in a new environment and he was jumpy.

Keith stood a few steps behind the others. When the aliens came out he may have clutched his knife a little tighter. They looked vaguely like beetles. Their skin were cool shades of blues, purples and greens, they didn’t seem to have noses, their eyes were hexagons pieced together like a puzzle. Keith forgot what they were called, the things that looked shiny and reflected their view a couple times over. The rest of their body was pretty much human, if humans were made of bone and were unnaturally tall.

One of them reached out a three-fingered hand for Lance to shake. He took it enthusiastically. The alien might have smiled but it was hard to tell, “Welcome to our home, Your Majesty.”

“Lance is fine.”, Lance mumbled absently he was looking around. His head snapped back to the alien leader, “You have a beautiful planet.

The alien definitely smiled this time, “Thank you. Lance. Us Unovians try our best to keep our planet well maintained.”

Lance grinned wide and kept conversing with the leader. Keith let him fall into the background noise and scanned the aliens around him. They didn’t seem like fighters, but they had the potential to be quick and possibly shoot harmful substances out of their mouths like normal bugs. Then again, maybe not.

He watched Lance’s expression as he talked to the leader. His smile grew wider and wider as the alien speaks joyfully. Finally he asks, “So I was wondering if we could seek refuge on your wonderful planet.”

The words roll off his tongue easily. But the aliens stiffen a little and the leader turns to speak to her people in another language, a variation of hisses and clicks and sounds Keith can’t name. She turns back around to Lance, who’s eyes are filled with hope. Her expression softens, “We have agreed to lets you stay.” She says warmly, Lance, Hunk and Pidge let out a breath, “But on one condition.” Keith stiffens, alien lady keeps talking, “You have to be an equal part of our society. You must live the same way our citizens do.”

Lance instantly agrees. Shaking her hand again. The lady looks at him strangely, “That means you must live as a peasant.” She said slowly.

Lance smiled wide, “That’s fine. I don’t mind.” He turned back to Keith and the others, “Do you guys mind?” They all shook their heads.

Lance turned giddily to the leader who shook her head as if she was amazed, “Them welcome to our planet, Lance and friends.”

 

She showed them around their humble village and Keith started feeling better and worse at the same time. They didn’t seem to have any combat training facilities, which meant they probably weren’t trained to fight, which made Keith feel less tense, then again, _they_ _didn’t_ _have_ _any_ _combat_ _training_ _areas_ , where was Keith supposed to relieve tension and stay sharp? He would have to ask later.

They all had to live in the same house for a reason Keith hadn’t heard. Their house was pretty big and gave them each their own room. But they would have to share the two bathrooms. Lance wasn’t super happy about that, but he didn’t complain a lot. The leader, alien lady, Keith hadn’t caught her name, showed them around the rest of the house and left them, telling them someone would pick them up in the morning.

Pidge and Lance waited till she was gone before running into the house to call their rooms. Keith and Hunk followed at a more reasonable pace. There were dull thuds as Pidge and Lance tumbled over each other. Keith smiled, he’d never had siblings, but he assumed it would be like this.

After a lot of scrambling and play fighting Lance and Pidge both chose their rooms. Keith told Hunk he could pick whatever room he wanted. Hunk happily choose the room closest to the kitchen.

Keith smiled and stepped into last room. He dropped his bag by the door and tossed himself onto the bed, surprised when he sank into the fluffy mass. He shifted onto his back and realized that he couldn’t remember the last time he had slept through the night. Keith was about to move to a proper position when Lance barged in.

Keith felt Lance’s heavy gaze on his exposed midriff for an entire second before Lance shook himself, “I just came to check out your room. Looks exactly the same as mine.” He said, not as enthusiastically as when he entered.

Keith pulled himself into a sitting position, “Would you guys mind if I slept for a little?” He asked. His mind wasn’t moving as fast as it should.

Lance seemed to notice the dark circles under his eyes and nodded, “I’ll tell Hunk and Pidge. Goodnight!” He shot Keith one last smile and turned out of the doorway. Keith stared at the door for a minute, then he scooted up, so his head rested in the pillow and closed his eyes.

 

•••

 

It was dark. Keith couldn’t see anything, even as he waved his hand in front of his eyes. There was a thumping noise coming from behind him. A door opened, casting light on Keith’s surroundings. There was an army advancing on him. He could feel someone shift next to him.

Keith whirled around to find Shiro next to him giving him a warm smile. Keith was about to smile back when he saw Shiro’s expression crumble. The blood seeped through his shirt and onto Keith’s hands. Keith screamed and dropped him, looking up to see the army firing at him. He ran for the door. Dozens of footsteps stomped right behind him.

When he finally reached the door, he saw Lance right there, leaning on the frame. He called out to him. He stepped up to the door, but Lance blacked his way. Keith’s stepped back in shock. He heard the soldiers marching behind him.

“Lance, you have to let me in. Please!” He cried. Reaching out, but not touching him, “They’re going to kill me. Please.”

Lance didn’t move. He just stared down Keith with a cold gaze, “Why should I?” He said in a cool voice, “You couldn’t even protect him.” He nodded back at Shiro’s body as the soldiers stepped over him. Crushing his form.

Keith screamed, “Lance, please. I can’t do this. I don’t want to die.”

Lance shoved him away from the door, Keith realized his ears had popped outing his panic, Lance regarded him with emotionless eyes, “You’re a monster. You couldn’t even save your own brother.” He shoved Keith farther away from the door, “You don’t deserve to come through here. Go join your own kind.” Lance nodded at the Galra before he turned and slammed the door shut. Keith scratched at the door and begged for Lance to let him in. But it never opened, he was left in the pitch black and a bunch of Galra ripping at his skin.

 

•••

 

“Should we wake him up?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he normally sleeps curled into a tiny ball.”

“No. There’s no way that is any kind of comfortable, even if he was double jointed.”

Keith awoke to low voices. He slowly moved his legs. He found that they were curled tightly against his chest and his arms were wrapped around them. He stretched his body out before he opened his eyes to see Hunk, Pidge and Lance looking down at him.

Hunk was the first to speak, “Het man, we just came to wake you up for dinner. You okay?”

Keith looked up at him, taking a moment to process his words. Keith looked down, “I'm fine.” He whispered, “I’ll be fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He’ll be fine.


	25. Part 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Idek anymore. Art. School. Kids. Lance has thoughts. 
> 
> It’s a filler. Next one is bonding. Then the holidays! Woooo;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for dying on all of you. This chapter is long compared to all of the other ones so…enjoy!

Lance couldn’t get the image of Keith out of his head. Keith curled tightly around his pillow, clutching it like it was his lifeline. The wide-eyed look he gave Hunk as his clouded brain searched for a meaning to the words. The way he yawned and rubbed his eyes and didn’t even realize his Galra ears were out as he lazily shoved food in his mouth and generally just mumbled along with the conversation. His head rested in his hand, his earrings glinted in the warm glow of the room. Keith was beautiful. To some people. Some people that definitely didn’t include Lance.

Lance pressed a pillow to his face and smiled goofily into it. Keith was so cute! He let himself savor the thought for a minute before shutting it away and turning over to sleep.

 

Lance woke up strangely early to the sound of pots and pans in the kitchen. He peeked up, maybe Hunk would give him something to taste or let him help out. Lance brushed his teeth and scrubbed his face. He put on his lotions and finally stepped out of the bathroom.

When he wandered into the kitchen, Lance was surprised to find Keith there. He was humming something softly under his breath as he watched something sizzle in a pan. He turned just in time to see Lance walk in.

Keith look vaguely embarrassed, “Um, I woke up pretty early and Hunk wasn’t awake and I was kinda hungry so I decided to make something for everyone.” He mumbled, blushing a little.

Lance stared for a second unsure how to respond. Then he stepped further in, “Do you have something I can eat, or help with?”

Keith gave him a curious look before he turned and grabbed a plate to show it to Lance. It was full of reddish, pink strips, still shiny from the grease. Lance hesitantly grabbed one.

“They’re from a packet I found in the freezer, so I’m not sure how good they are.” Keith muttered a little and set down the plate on the side closer to Lance, he regarded Lance with those eyes again, “I have coffee, too, if you want some.”

Pidge popped into the kitchen, “Coffee?” Keith gave her a small smile and pointed to a jug that was plugged into the wall, “Oh my god. I’ve missed this so much.” She looked through the shelves until she found a mug and sugar. She poured some of the deep brown liquid into her cup and dumped in four spoons of sugar, “Thanks Keith.” She said before taking a sip. Pidge hummed happily

Lance was curious, “What is that? Can I have a sip?” Pidge handed him her cup with a wink at Keith who bought his own cup to his lips to hide his smile. Lance carefully bought it to his lips as he watched Keith take a big sip from his own mug. If Keith liked it, it couldn’t be that bad, right?

Wrong. As soon as he took a sip he wanted to spit it back into the cup(he didn’t because it was Pidge’s). He shoved the cup back into her hands and swallowed a few times to get the painfully bitter taste out of his mouth. Keith handed him a glass of water that he drank completely. He looked at both Keith and Pidge holding back their laughter, “What is that stuff!” He cried, “It tastes like death.”

Pidge smirked at him and held out her mug for Keith to bump with his own, “It’s the stuff people drink when they’re already dead inside.” She said proudly.

Lance swiped at his mouth, “I’m pretty sure this is the stuff that kills you.” He muttered.

Keith picked up the tongs and began piling more bacon onto the plate. Pidge grabbed a warm piece from the top and took a huge bite. Lance realized he was still holding his, he took a little nibble of it and was pleasantly surprised. It was salty, but an okay amount of salty. He bit through the rest and was reaching for another piece in no time. It was almost good enough for him to forgive them for the hell in their cups.

Keith stepped out of the kitchen, mumbling something about getting Hunk. Pidge turned to Lance, “Its nice to see him open up like that.” She said quietly. Lance nodded as he reached for his third piece of bacon.

He held it up, “Is this common human food?” He asked as he bit off half of it.

Pidge nodded, “It’s a common breakfast thing. Most people like it.”She moved around Lance to the fridge. She pulled out a carton of eggs and left it by the stove, “It looks like Keith has some pancake batter here. It’s been a while since I’ve had a normal breakfast.”

Just as she said that, Hunk walked, followed by Keith. Hunk looked around, “G’morning” He mumbled.

Keith pointed him towards the plate and moved to look through all the closets until he found a little silver bag, he held it up, “Is it okay if I put chocolate chips in the pancakes?” He asked.

Pidge’s eyes were shining, “Not as long as you put extra in mine.”

Hunk shook his head, “Do you want me to do the eggs?” He asked.

Keith shrugged and and gestured at the empty space beside him.

After that, time went by in a flash of fluffy chocolate chip pancakes, eggs, bacon and laughter. Lance basked in the glow of Keith’s soft chuckles, and the way his earrings glinted darkly in the sunlight.Lance couldn’t look at Keith’s eyes without thinking of a night sky full of stars. So he didn’t.

The Unovian man knocked on their door as they were finishing up cleaning. He seemed soft-spoken as he explained, “Unovians believe that art is a fair way to practice skill, orderliness, relieving stress, bringing calm and perfecting yourself. Our-“ he made a series of clicks, similar to the sound they had heard the day before, “believes this is the best thing for you to learn in your time here.” He looked around for any dissatisfaction, finding none, he continued, “I’m afraid, since you do not know our language, you will have to work with our younger group. Are you fine with this?”

Lance looked at either side of himself, seeing no one who looked opposed to the idea, he shrugged, “Sounds great! When do we start?”

The man nodded, “ Follow me, sir,”

Lance turned to usher his friends along. Hunk jogged a little to walk next to him and Pidge walked close behind them. Keith, of course, lagged behind. Lance saw his staring at the buildings and people around them as they walked.

Soon enough, they reached a flat, wide building. Their guide turn to face them, “You are assigned to travel to class with this group of children for the next week. After that, if you prefer any changes, they will be made.”

They all nodded and Hunk waved as their guide left them. Lance looked at the doors, “Let’s go.”

 

The classroom was big. There were instruments all over the the place. Brass in the middle, strings to the right, woodwinds, up front, percussion in the back and a piano in the far corner. There were kids fooling around on some of them, looking at music on stands and using highlighter looking things to write on them.

A Unovian that looked adultish walked upto them, “Hello, hello!” Lance figured it was a she, from her voice, “Welcome to music! Do any of you play any instruments or sing?” Lance, Hunk and Keith raised their hands, “What do you do, honey?” She asked Lance.

“I sang for a few years.” He said with full confidence.

The teacher turned to Hunk and asked him the same question, “Trombone.” Hunk muttered, “Six years of trombone.”

When she finally turned to Keith, Lance’s ears perked up. He knew Keith played quite a few instruments.

Keith shifted, “I play a variety of Earth instruments and a few Altean ones, too.”

The teacher smiled warmly, “I’m sorry, but can you tell me each one? I need to know where you stand so I know where to start.”

Keith blushed at that and looked at his feet as he started listing, “Um, I’ve played the piano, violin, viola, cello, clarinet, percussion and saxophone since I was twelve. I have spent time on the trumpet, tuba, bass clarinet, and guitar, and I know a little bit about the bass. Nothing crazy.” He took a breath but didn’t look up, “Altean-wise, I can only play the munzek, frayla and the zinqelt.”Then he shot a quick look at the corner of the room, “I played the harp, too for a little, but I’m no good at it.”

There was a moment where no one spoke, just processed all Keith had just said. Then Hunk whispered, “Woah, man. That’s so cool!”

Keith’s blush moved to his ears and neck. Making them violently purple. Pidge smiled, “It’s cool that you found time to do that even as you were training for the guard.”

Keith lifted his head a little to look at her, but Lance cut off anything he was going to say about assassination training or whatever, “So are you good at all of them?”

Keith shrugged, “I haven’t played anything for a while. I might not meet your expectations.” Lance frowned a little at how Keith shifted to a more respectful tone when he answered Lance.

     Lance was about to mention it when the teacher chuckled softy in front of them, “It’s nice to see that the younger generations still care about musical talent.” She said grinning at Keith. It would’ve been warm, if her teeth weren’t purple. It seemed to be a trait that only a few of the locals had. She put a hand on Keith’s shoulder, “For today, I’m going to put you on piano.” she turned to Hunk, “You are going to be with our trombones, you can come with me, to figure out where you fit into our chorus.” she said nodding to Lance, then she turned to Pidge, “Do you want to learn an instrument or join our choir honey?”

     Pidge looked uncomfortable, “I’ll join the choir.” she muttered.

     The teacher nodded, “Can you tell me your names?” They each introduced themselves, she nodded at their words, “Okay. And you’re all human, I presume?”

    Lance saw Keith’s eyes shift, but he spoke up before Keith could even think about mentioning his mixed heritage, “I’m Altean, but everyone else here is human.”

     The teacher nodded, “There is music on the piano, and I have to give you the trombone and vocal music.” She pointed Keith to the piano and gestured for Lance, Pidge and Hunk to follow her.

      Lance walked after her to a small keyboard in the front of the room, next to a desk. She handed Hunk music and explained where he could find a trombone his size, then she turned to Lance and told him to sing scales. As he did them, he watched Keith squint at the music on the piano and jot a few things down with the orange highlighter.

    The teacher told him was done, and pulled Pidge up to the keyboard, she gently sang along with Pidge as she tried to make sense of what the teacher was trying to tell her. As they spoke, Lance found out that the teacher’s name was Klanya.

     Then a soft melody came from the opposite corner of the room. It caught Lance’s attention like a lasso, from those old cowboy movies. He turned around to watch Keith play out the music in front of him. He was graceful, but not in the same way as when he fought, this time everything flowed together and there was nothing that cut in between to give it extra texture. It was simple and calming. Lance found himself smiling as he made his way to join the choir with Pidge.

Klanya made her way to the conductor’s podium and stepped up, “Guys! Listen up!” She called out, “We have four new students! I want you guys to raise your hands and wave when I say your name. Keith, Lance, Hunk and Pidge.” They each waved and shot their classmates a smile ranging from wide grins to shy smiles. Klanya nodded, “Good. Now, we are going to do a quick run through if our music, then you can spend the rest of the period practicing or getting to know our new friends.”

The class was quiet, save for a few mutters and murmurs of the students asking for rosin, emptying spit valves and talking. Klanya held up her arms and everyone went into playing position. She gave them two beats and they took off.

The first song was quick and kind of jumpy, with a little slow transition in the middle that they had to go over a few times. The second piece was dramatic, focusing heavily on the brass and lower strings. The last piece was a piano solo type song. Most of the instruments had a slow rhythm to push off the piano’s melody, the vocals were singing chords and there were a few violins and cellos playing along with the piano. 

Keith rocked the piano part, of course. He only messed once right in the middle, but he slipped right back into the melody when Klanya called out the measure number.

When they had finished those three songs, Klanya clapped and said something in her native language. The students immediately flocked around Lance and his friends. Lance dropped down to a crouch so he was the same height as most of them. They asked him questions about his home world, the piano guy and if he had “cool Altean powers.”

He answered the first two questions with as smile, the last one, he wiggled his eyebrows at them and smirked, making them giggle. Lance looked over to see Hunk carrying kids on his huge arms and Pidge giving them death glares as they tried to stand on their tippy toes to see if they were taller than her and Keith looking at the two kids who had walked up to him with a worried expression, like he didn’t know what to do.

Lance looked back down to the kids around him. They didn’t seem interested anymore, so he slipped past a few to go help out his clueless friend.

Lance walked up as one of the kids asked him if he knew any fun songs, Lance was about to jump in when Keith smiled, “I don’t know. What’s a fun song you want me to play?” He asked, kinda quietly.

They all started calling out songs Lance had never heard of. Keith laughed a little, and smiled at one of them, “I love that one!” Lance could see the uncertainty in his eyes as he turned to the piano. Keith patted the seat next to him, “Come on up! Do you know the words?” The kid climbed up excitedly and nodded.

Keith grinned and counted off, then he began, to sing along with the kids as his fingers bounced happily on the piano. The two on the floor jumped around the piano, singing loudly. Keith’s smile slowly turned genuine, and he finished the song and picked another kid for the next song. The title aliens crowded around the piano calling out songs and singing along with Keith.

Even Klanya came to stand beside Lance and smile warmly, “Your friend is very talented.” She said to Lance, before she began clapping along to something quick and slightly repetitive. Hunk and Pidge we’re jumping around with the kids, singing along, too. It was fun to watch, but Lance had never heard any of the songs, so it would be hard for him to join in.

The class ended, and all the kids filed out chattering excitedly and crowding around Keith, pulling him to their next class, which was some kind of culinary/Home Ed class.

The teacher was slightly less welcoming than Klanya, but she wasn’t outright mean either. She introduced herself as Bryta and announced that the holidays were coming up, so they had to make patterned placemats to take home. The kids cheered and went to their “stations” and started pulling out supplies, Bryta showed the newer additions where they could find their things.

The kids flocked around Keith, asking him what kinds of patterns he was going to draw on his. Keith smiled at them, “Sorry guys.” He said in his quiet voice, “I’m not super sure what I’m doing yet. But you know who’s really good at patterns?” He shot a quick glance at Hunk who smiled back and nodded. The kids around Keith were calling out each other’s or their own names, Keith hushed them with a raised hand, “Hunk, over there, is really good with patterns. I’m sure he has a greatidea for his placemat!” The kids flocked over to Hunk, who showed them how to draw connected shapes to make a cool border.

Lance pulled his stool next to Keith’s, “That was nice of you.” He said conversationally.

Keith looked up from his placemat, which looked too good to have been colored in with some cheap crayons, startled, “Sorry?”

Lance chuckled, “Nothing. You’re just surprisingly god with kids.”

Keith gave him him a wideyed stare, “Normally, when kids see me, they turn around and run the other way. I’m honestly as surprised as you.” Lance laughed again

The next class was crafting. Hunk directed the mob of kids to Pidge as she tried piecing together wooden parts to make something. Lance was surprised to see that no one was hostile towards any of them.

Pidge called out for pieces and let whoever found them pick a color for the piece that was going on. She then marked it with a symbol and added the color to her key. It was very systematic and Pidge-like. Lance spent the period watching kids run around the classroom looking for a very specific piece Pidge had called for. He also watched Keith work.

The teacher had let them do whatever they wanted with the stuff he had on the classroom. Keith has very quietly asked if he had clay. Now, he was carefully molding it into a shape Lance couldn’t quite make out. Keith’s face was very close to his work and he even had a little splotch of wet clay under his left eye. He looked at peace, very different from when he first slammed the clay into the table aggressively, scaring Lance and Hunk who had been talk quietly nearby. Keith had picked it up and slammed it down again. He did that a few times, then he kneaded it for a little, and now he worked.

Their teacher called clean up before Lance had even had a chance to put together his two blocks of wood to make anything. The teacher walked over to Keith and nodded. They spoke a little about some artist and how interesting his work was and if Keith could replicate one of his pieces. 

Then they had a free period for their ‘midday meal’. Which was lunch, but, apparently, lunch was a slang word, so they called it midday meal.

The cafeteria served only one meal. It was this neon green pudding-esque green stuff. The children seemed to be indifferent towards it. Nobody complained, but nobody jumped for joy either. Lance poked at his before taking a cautious bite. It wasn’t bad. It just didn’t taste like anything.

Hunk took one bite of his and shook his head in disgust before he marched over to the cooking staff. He seemed nice as he spoke to them, but the lady seemed a little taken aback and she leaned back and called something into the kitchen.

The lady handed Hunk a bunch of bottles that she had grabbed from one of the people in the kitchen. Hunk smiled and walked back to the table. He set them on the table and sniffed at each bottle, “Spices. Perfect.”

Pidge leaned over to see the bottles, “What’d you say?”

“That their food was so bland that I was going to cut my tongue and use my blood to give it flavor.” Hunk responded without a second thought. Pidge snorted and burst into giggles.

Lance stared at Hunk, “Damn. I didn’t think you had it in you! Good job.” He felt something shaking next to him. Lance turned to see Keith’s face buried in his hands and covered by his hair. He was shaking.

When he pulled his face out of his hands, Lance’s breath caught in his throat. Keith’s smile was huge and pure. Hunk winked at him and Keith buried his face back in his hands. It seemed like he was trying not to let it out. Lance was about to turn back to his food when he heard a snort. From Keith. He whipped back around to see Keith pressing his hands to his mouth as his eyes danced with joy. He let out a small laugh, before he tried to confine it again. Keith eventually gave in, his forehead hitting the table as he laughed.

Pidge was in a similar state of hysterics. Hunk seemed proud of himself. Lance was in shock. Keith was gasping for breath, but one look at Hunk had him laughing again.

That image was never going to leave his mind.The bright smile and the shining eyes. Lance couldn’t help but smile too.

Lance couldn’t pay much attention to the rest of the day but it was all pretty much academics and language classes. Like normal school. Their writing teacher told them that she needed to know their level of experience or something so she was giving them until after the holidays to write about their family traditions.

That night Lance fell asleep thinking about spending the holidays with Keith, Pidge and Hunk. He was smiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance is an interesting child.


End file.
